GOP presidential hopeful Chris Christie finally had enough of fellow Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy at Wednesday night’s GOP primary debate, calling him the “most obnoxious blowhard in America” after the biotech entrepreneur once again insulted Nikki Haley.
Ramaswamy, who declared that his debate strategy was to be “unhinged,” fired back and likened Christie to Dick Cheney “with lipstick.”
During the first half of the fourth Republican presidential debate, hosted by upstart cable news channel NewsNation, the moderators quickly lost control as Ramaswamy and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in lockstep attacked Haley, who has gained momentum in recent weeks.
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After Ramaswamy repeatedly and viciously tore into Haley’s foreign policy positions, especially as it related to Ukraine, Christie stepped in and blasted the “anti-woke” gadfly for making himself the center of attention. After claiming that Ramaswamy was again backing away from comments he previously said (an increasingly common accusation about the wealthy candidate) the former New Jersey governor unleashed on his rival.
“Let me tell you something, this is the fourth debate that you would be voted in the first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blowhard in America,” Christie exclaimed. “So shut up for a little while!”
“We are now 25 minutes into this debate, and he has insulted Nikki Haley's basic intelligence. Not her positions, her basic intelligence. She wouldn’t be able to find something on a map that his 3-year-old could find,” an increasingly incensed Christie continued. “Look, if you want to disagree on issues, that's fine. Nikki and I disagree on some issues. I’ve known her for 12 years, which is longer than he started to vote in a Republican primary. And while we disagree about some issues and we disagree about who should be president of the United States. What we don’t disagree on is that this is a smart, accomplished woman. You should stop insulting her!”
Ramaswamy, however, didn’t back down. Instead, he focused his personal insults on Christie, even referencing the infamous Bridgegate.
“Chris, your version of foreign policy experience was closing a bridge from New Jersey to New York. So, do everybody a favor; just walk yourself off that stage, enjoy a nice meal, and get the hell out of this race!”
Not finished, Ramaswamy then added: “You can put lipstick on a Dick Cheney, and it’s still a fascist neocon!”
Given a chance to respond, Christie described Ramaswamy as a “smart mouth from Harvard,” claiming that “all he knows how to do is insult good people who have committed their lives to public service and not say anything that moves the ball down the field for the United States.”
In the post-debate analysis, Christie described himself as a “truth teller,” and called Ramaswamy “a jackass,” adding, “It’s not me forming an alliance with Nikki Haley,” and that he expected to go toe-to-toe with Haley in New Hampshire over the coming weeks.
