Republican debate: Christie calls Ramaswamy ‘most obnoxious blowhard’ in defense of Haley

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie tore into entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, calling him the “most obnoxious blowhard in America” in defense of former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley during the fourth GOP primary debate on Wednesday.

Ramaswamy targeted Haley at the start of the debate, criticizing her foreign policy beliefs.

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“Foreign policy experience is not the same as foreign policy wisdom,” Ramaswamy said. “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.”

Christie immediately stepped in, taking issue with Ramaswamy’s criticism of the former South Carolina governor.

“This is the fourth debate, the fourth debate that you would be voted in the first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blowhard in America,” Christie said.

“We’re now 25 minutes into this debate and he has insulted Nikki Haley’s basic intelligence — not her positions, her basic intelligence. She doesn’t know regions. She wouldn’t be able to find something on a map that his 3-year-old could find,” he quipped.

“Look, if you want to disagree on issues, that’s fine. And Nikki and I disagree on some issues, but I’ll tell you this, I’ve known her for 12 years, which is longer than [Ramaswamy] even starting to vote in the Republican primary,” he said.

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“This is a smart, accomplished woman. You should stop insulting her,” Christie added.

In the GOP primary race, former President Donald Trump leads at 61%, DeSantis is at 13.5%, and Haley is at 10.3%, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls. That same average found Ramaswamy polling at a little under 5%, Christie at 2.5%, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson hovering at less than 1%.