Republican debate: Vivek Ramaswamy pushes back against GOP attacks

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy tried to strike a different tone in the second GOP primary debate Wednesday evening, but the other candidates didn’t hold back.

For the second straight debate, the political novice was on the receiving end of multiple attacks from his 2024 rivals. In one sharp exchange, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley told Ramaswamy: “Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.”

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Ramaswamy remained unphased by the multiple attacks he faced during the debate.

“I think my anger and my frustration is now less directed against one of those candidates. But against that system, that broken system of super PAC puppetry,” Ramaswamy told reporters in the spin room. “That’s not even the fault of good people on that stage. Some of them are being exploited by that system. And so we’re in this to change that actual broken system, which puts me in a different headspace than candidates who are slinging, you know, clever insults at one another. And I think I’m done with that phase of this campaign.”

The first-time candidate also admitted that his inexperience means he has more work to do to win the trust of the GOP base. “You saw an anaphylactic response to what happens when somebody comes in as a millennial to this race,” he said. “And I think that we, in some ways, have to own that and say that as the new guy. We have to earn that trust, but it’s my job in this race going forward. We’re not getting into petty barb-trading contests with other candidates.”

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Several Republican strategists had suggested that Ramaswamy would need to display a more mature response after the first GOP debate last month showcased his lack of foreign policy expertise.

Ramaswamy is currently coming in fourth place in a RealClearPolitics poll average at 5.1% behind former President Donald Trump at 56.6%, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) at 14.4% and Haley at 5.8%.