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Ramaswamy triggers wave to ‘fire Ronna McDaniel,’ invokes Tucker, Gutfeld in WILD debate opening

November 9, 2023 | | Print Article

Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy made good on his promise to be “unhinged” during the third GOP presidential primary debate, unleashing a blistering attack on leaders of his party among others.

Ramaswamy reportedly told ABC News his strategy during the Miami event was to “be unhinged.” And from the stage shared by fellow candidates, the 38-year-old entrepreneur fired a shot at the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, after declaring that Republicans have become a “party of losers” since she took the helm.

“I think there’s something deeper going on in the Republican Party here, and I am upset about what happened last night,” Ramaswamy responded Wednesday night when asked why he should be the GOP presidential nominee.

His comments followed a sobering night of election results across the nation in high-profile contests that saw Republicans defeated, as the red state of Kentucky re-elected Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear, Ohio voters resoundingly protected abortion rights, and Democrats came away with control of both houses of the Virginia Legislature.

“We’ve become a party of losers at the end of the day,” Ramaswamy said, adding that there is a “cancer” in the GOP establishment.

He noted that since McDaniel became the chair of the RNC in 2017, Republicans have lost in the 2018 and 2022 midterm elections as well as the 2020 presidential election, pointing out that the much-touted “red wave” never materialized in 2022.

“We got trounced last night in 2023,” he continued.

“And I think we have to have accountability in our party. For that matter, Ronna, if you want to come on stage tonight and look the GOP voters in the eye and tell them you resign, I will turn over, yield my time to you,” Ramaswamy challenged.

He then took aim at the moderators of the debate hosted by NBC, contending that more conservative voices should have been asking the questions.

“Think about who’s moderating this debate: This should be Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan and Elon Musk. We’d have 10 times the viewership, asking questions that GOP primary voters actually care about and bringing more people into our party,” he said to applause.

Calling out the corrupt media, Ramaswamy also put moderator Kristen Welker in the spotlight.

“We’ve got Kristen Welker here. You think Democrats would actually hire Greg Gutfeld to host a Democratic debate? They wouldn’t do it! Kristen, I’m going to use this time because it’s actually about you, and the media and the corrupt media establishment. Ask you, the Trump-Russia collusion hoax that you pushed on this network for years! Was that real? Or was that Hillary Clinton made up this information? Answer the question. Go!” he said as the crowd met him with cheers and applause.

McDaniel responded to Ramaswamy’s criticism after the debate, telling CNN’s Dana Bash, “I stand by our choice to go with a non-conservative media outlet. I think NBC did a great job.”

“We’re not going to win elections if we sit in the echo chamber of Republican, Republican media, and don’t talk to other voters about these issues,” she said. “Tonight, people maybe for the first time watching NBC heard that 75,000 people died of fentanyl last year. Maybe they learned things about our party that they haven’t heard and took a look at one of our candidates and said, ‘Maybe I’m gonna vote for them.’”

“That’s what we have to do as a party. And if you can’t take a tough question, then you probably shouldn’t be running for president,” McDaniel added.

Ramaswamy’s criticisms resonated with many in the party who took to social media to express their agreement.

Frieda Powers
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