Opinion
The fireworks were off the charts at last night’s Republican presidential debate, particularly between Chris Christie and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Christie went hard after Ramaswamy, who has made former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley his prime target in these debates, but the brash young candidate was not backing down.
The former governor of New Jersey seemingly had some sort of unwritten pact with Haley during the debate and as such, he took it upon himself to come to her defense when Ramaswamy kept jabbing away at her.
“This is the fourth debate that you will be voted in the first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blowhard in America,” Christie fumed.
But Ramaswamy was only getting started. He established himself as easily the best debater on that stage Wednesday night with comeback after comeback.
At one point, in the span of about 15 seconds, he managed to hit Christie with a Bridgegate scandal blast, question his intellect on foreign policy, and toss in a weight joke all for good measure.
“His version of foreign policy experience was closing a bridge from New Jersey to New York,” Ramaswamy said. “So do everybody a favor, just walk yourself off that stage, enjoy a nice meal and get the hell out of this race.”
Murder. First degree. RIP Christie’s campaign.
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Christie Gets Lambasted By Ramaswamy At GOP Debate
It must be hard for Chris Christie to get thoroughly throat-punched by Vivek Ramaswamy the way he did on the debate stage last night.
This is, after all, the guy who was considered to be Donald Trump in politics before Trump. Loud, obnoxious at times, trying to bully his detractors into hiding.
And yet, the skinny kid up on that stage just took him apart like he wasn’t even there.
Ramaswamy also tore into Christie, Haley, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for using former President Donald Trump to further their careers, stating they had spent a significant amount of time “licking” his boots in the past.
Christie surely did that, helping Trump in the 2016 debates to take out Marco Rubio, just as he tried “licking” Haley’s boots and serving as her attack dog last night.
But then, he has a career of doing that. New York politicos for years contended Christie tried to help his own career by entering into an unwritten truce between he and disgraced New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in which neither would talk publicly about the other’s scandals.
Christie, as chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2014, was even accused of sabotaging GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino in his bid to unseat Cuomo.
RELATED: Vivek Ramaswamy Says Stop Using Phrase ‘People Of Color’: ‘We Are Americans, Period’
Drops Some More ‘Truth’ Bombs
Beyond the “go enjoy a nice meal” blast on Christie, Ramaswamy really set the debate stage on fire when he ascribed to what the media would describe as right-wing conspiracy theories.
“Why am I the only person on this stage, at least, who can say that Jan. 6 now does look like it was an inside job?” Ramaswamy asked.
“That the government lied to us for 20 years about Saudi Arabia’s involvement in 9/11? That the great replacement theory is not some grand right-wing conspiracy theory, but a basic statement of the Democratic Party’s platform?” he added. “That the 2020 election was indeed stolen by Big Tech?”
There had to be a load of pearl-clutching throughout the night from journalists and Democrats alike when Ramaswamy spoke.
After being embarrassed on the debate stage by Vivek, Christie did the only thing he could do: he skedaddled off to CNN to complain about it.
There he found his stride again as the tough guy he so longed to be. In a post-debate interview with host Dana Bash, Christie called his rival a “jackass” with a “smart-ass Harvard mouth.”
“I think Vivek does have a woman problem,” he said in explaining his alliance with Haley. “He is a jackass. It’s not me forming an alliance with Nikki Haley.”
What makes Christie’s accusation that Ramaswamy has “a woman problem” particularly curious is that the former governor got into a heated confrontation with debate moderator Megyn Kelly early on during the debate.
Watch as he tries to intimidate Kelly by standing over her and appearing to get pretty demanding as if he has some sort of problem… with this woman.
Kelly would at one point rattle off Christie’s dismal approval ratings within the Republican party and ask the question: “Voters may wonder how you could possibly become the nominee of a party that does not appear to like you very much?”
It was a tough night, Chris. Better luck next time.
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