Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramawamy made numerous controversial statements during the fourth GOP presidential debate, going as far as to call one of his fellow contenders a “fascist.”
Ramaswamy took many shots at his competition on stage — most notably former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley — and took plenty of incoming fire himself.
Ramaswamy attacked Haley as a “fascist” early on during the debate, citing the former United Nations (UN) ambassador’s calls to have social media users “verified by their name.”
The GOP presidential candidate said the U.S. is “marching towards fascism under Biden” and that “[Special Counsel] Jack Smith has subpoenaed every last retweet that someone has issued from Donald Trump in the year 2020.”
“The only person more fascist than the Biden regime now is Nikki Haley, who thinks the government should identify every one of those individuals with an ID,” Ramaswamy said, prompting boos from the crowd.
“That is not freedom, that is fascism, she should come nowhere near the levers of power, let alone the White House,” he continued.
Haley walked back her comments after facing backlash, saying she wanted social media companies to be transparent with Americans and show their algorithms.
“What I know, what anyone in intelligence [knows]… Russia, Iran and China, North Korea too, know that the cheapest form of warfare is to spread misinformation. Look at what happened with Israel. You want to know where all this pro-Hamas information is coming from? It is coming from foreign actors that are sowing chaos and division,” she said in November.
Ramaswamy also attacked Haley’s intelligence on stage, saying she couldn’t name a Ukrainian province she would theoretically send soldiers to if elected president amid the war with Russia.
The Ohio businessman said that Haley and Biden were two of the last “neocons” supporting “pointless war” in Ukraine.
“One thing that Joe Biden and Nikki Haley have in common is that neither of them could even state for you three provinces in eastern Ukraine that they want to send our troops to actually fight for,” Ramaswamy said.
Ramaswamy’s words sparked a response from former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who criticized Ramaswamy for attacking Haley’s intelligence.
Christie blasted Ramaswamy as “the most obnoxious blowhard in America” for his comments and defended Haley as a “smart” and “accomplished woman.”
The crowd erupted with laughter when Ramaswamy told Christie to leave the presidential debate stage and get a “meal.”
The attack came after Christie torched Ramaswamy over his comments targeting Haley over her intelligence,Â
Ramaswamy fired back at Christie, telling the former Garden State governor to leave the stage, “enjoy a nice meal and get the hell out of this race.”
“Chris, your 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,” he continued.
Ramaswamy also turned heads on stage when he said he was the “only candidate” on stage who would raise questions regarding the January 6 Capitol Riots, Saudi Arabia’s involvement in 9/11, and more.
While blasting the Republicans on stage for “Monday morning quarterbacking” former President Trump’sÂ
The Ohio businessman said that he thinks the January 6 riots are looking more like an “inside job” and that the U.S. government “lied” to the American people about Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the September 11 Attacks.
Additionally, Ramaswamy said the “Great Replacement Theory is not some grand, right-wing conspiracy theory” but rather “a basic statement of the Democratic Party’s platform” and that the 2020 was “stolen by Big Tech.”
Ramaswamy is continuing forward in his quest for the Oval Office in a thinning GOP field.
The Ohio businessman will have to fight through the other remaining Republican candidates for his chance to take on Biden for the presidency.
However, even if he surpasses his colleagues on stage, Ramaswamy still trails far behind Trump in the primary.
