Donald Trump offered a “thank you” to fellow presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Thursday after the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur came to his defense during the first Republican debate, which the former president chose not to attend.
“This answer gave Vivek Ramaswamy a big WIN in the debate because of a thing called TRUTH. Thank you Vivek!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social early Thursday morning.
The post included a clip of Ramaswamy calling Trump the “best president of the 21st Century.”
Ramaswamy’s defense of the former president, who chose to forgo the debate and participate in a pre-taped interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that aired on X at the same time, came in response to an attack from former New Jersey Chris Christie on the debate stage.
“Here’s the bottom line: Someone’s got to stop normalizing this conduct, okay? … Now, whether or not — whether or not you believe that the criminal charges are right or wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of president of the United States,” Christie said, responding to a question about why he was hesitant to say whether he would support Trump if he were the nominee.
“I’d like to get in and respond,” Ramaswamy said. “Let’s just speak the truth, okay? President Trump, I believe, was the best president of the 21st Century,” adding, “It’s a fact.”
If folks at home want to watch a bunch of people blindly bash Trump, they can just flip the channel and watch MSNBC right now. But I’m not running for President of MSNBC, I’m running for President of the United States. pic.twitter.com/aNEyvtrm4S
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) August 24, 2023
In Trump’s absence, Ramaswamy emerged as the target of several attacks on Wednesday night and spent a significant amount of time in the spotlight.
He came out swinging, calling the other contenders “Super PAC puppets” and saying he was “the only one on the stage that isn’t bought and paid for.”
Ramaswamy was also eager to answer the moderators’ question about whether the candidates opposed more funding for Ukraine.
“Ukraine is not a priority for the United States of America,” he said.
Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. responded, saying a win for Russia in Ukraine is a win for China and telling Ramaswamy, “You have no foreign policy experience, and it shows.”
NIKKI HALEY to Vivek: You're choosing a murderer over a pro-American country. You have no foreign policy experience and it shows! pic.twitter.com/P27LEEKt0L
— Team Haley (@TeamHaley) August 24, 2023
Others also took shots at Ramaswamy over his lack of political experience; Christie called Ramaswamy an “amateur.” Former vice president Mike Pence called him a “rookie.”
“Now is not the time for on-the-job training,” Pence said.
The former vice president traded words with Ramaswamy after the biotech entrepreneur claimed that America is “in the middle of a national identity crisis,” and that “people are so hungry for purpose and meaning.”
“We don’t have a national identity crisis,” Pence replied. “We just need a government as good as our people.”
At one point when Pence and Ramaswamy went back and forth, Haley asked the moderators to “get control of this debate.”