Republican debate goes off the rails as GOP gangs up on Vivek Ramaswamy

The Republican presidential debate went off the rails early on after candidates went after outsider Vivek Ramaswamy in what turned into a lively two-hour fight.

The riled-up GOP contenders piled criticism on the businessman after he blasted his competition in the first debate as being “bought and paid for” by special interests.

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Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) said Ramaswamy was “just in business with the Chinese Communist Party” because his biopharmaceutical company was involved with a state-owned Chinese investment company’s private equity firm, according to the Washington Post.

Ramaswamy attempted to walk back his misstep in August and said, “These are good people who are tainted by a broken system.”

“Vivek just said that we were all good people — and I appreciate that because last debate he said we were all bought and paid for,” Scott said. “I thought about that for a little while, and said, ‘You know, I can’t imagine how you could say that, knowing that you were just in business with the Chinese Communist Party, and the same people that funded Hunter Biden millions of dollars was a partner of yours as well.”

Ramaswamy called it “nonsense” before others jumped in and pounced on the businessman.

Vice President Mike Pence also trolled Ramaswamy.

“I’m glad Vivek pulled out of his business deal in 2018 in China,” Pence said. “That must have been about the time he decided to start voting in presidential elections.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) broke in to call for a return to policy matters but poked Ramaswamy before moving on.

“Can we please focus on the issues that matter? We know he did business in China! Everybody knows that,” DeSantis said.

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Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley also jumped in to imply Ramaswamy is a hypocrite for opposing social media app TikTok despite recently signing up for the Chinese-connected company.

“This is infuriating because TikTok is one of the most dangerous social media apps that we could have. And what do you got? Honestly, every time I hear you I feel a little bit dumber for what you say,” Haley said.