By JACOB MAGID

Nov 9

Republican presidential candidate businessman Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by NBC News, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy calls Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky a “Nazi” during tonight’s GOP debate in Miami.

Asked whether he’s convinced by Zelensky’s calls for more aid from the US to assist in the war against Russia, Ramaswamy says he is not and claims that a growing number of Republicans are beginning to follow his lead in opposing US involvement in the matter.

“Ukraine is not a paragon of democracy. This is a country that has banned 11 opposition parties. It has consolidated all media into one state TV media arm — that’s not democratic. It has threatened not to hold elections this year unless the US forks over more money — that is not democratic. It has celebrated a Nazi in its ranks, the comedian in cargo pants, a man called Zelensky… That is not democratic,” Ramaswamy says of the Ukrainian president, who is Jewish.

“The regions of Ukraine that are occupied by Russia right now in the Donbas: Luhansk and Donetsk. These are Russian-speaking regions that have not even been part of Ukraine since 2014.”

“To frame this as some kind of battle between good versus evil, don’t buy it,” he claims.

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Nikki Haley calls Vivek Ramaswamy ‘scum’ after daughter jibe

‘Leave my daughter’s name out of your voice’, a furious Ms Haley retorted

By Rozina Sabur, DEPUTY US EDITOR

9 November 2023 •

Nikki Haley branded Vivek Ramaswamy “scum” after he criticised her for allowing her daughter to use TikTok in a fiery exchange at the third Republican debate.

Mr Ramaswamy, 38, accused Ms Haley, 51, of hypocrisy over her opposition to the Chinese-owned app “while her own daughter” was using it “for a long time”.

“You might want to take care of your family first,” Mr Ramaswamy told her to loud jeers from the audience in Miami, Florida.

A furious Ms Haley retorted: “Leave my daughter’s name out of your voice”.

As Mr Ramaswamy continued to speak, Ms Haley shook her head and said: “You’re just scum.”

After the debate concluded, the candidates’ relatives joined them on stage. Mr Ramaswamy appeared to swerve away from Ms Haley, as her 25-year-old daughter, Rena, joined her mother at the podium. 

Asked about his attack on her daughter, Ms Haley told NBC News: “Look, I’m a mom. I’m a mom, so the second that you go and you start saying something about my 25 year old daughter, I’m gonna get my backup.”

But she added that her bigger concern over Mr Ramaswamy was: “I think he has a dangerous foreign policy that we can’t afford”.

The jibe was among several terse exchanges involving Ms Haley, as the candidate with the most polling momentum of the five on stage.

The former ambassador to the UN was also attacked over her hawkish foreign policy by Mr Ramaswamy, who dubbed her “Dick Cheney in three-inch heels” – a reference to George W Bush’s vice president.

Mr Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and political newcomer, asked the audience: “Do you want a leader from a different generation who’s going to put this country first, or do you want Dick Cheney in three-inch heels?”

“In which case, we’ve got two of them onstage tonight,” he added, in a jibe at Ron DeSantis, who has been accused of wearing height-boosting shoes.

Ms Haley has often highlighted the fact she is the only woman in the race and made a virtue of Mr Ramaswamy’s jibe over her footwear.

She told her on-stage rivals: “They’re five-inch heels. And I don’t wear them unless you can run in them”. 

She added: “They’re not for a fashion statement. They’re for ammunition.”