Republican presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott whispered and laughed with each other as their opponent, Nikki Haley, talked about building naval ships.
The camera caught Ramaswamy and Scott leaning over to whisper and laugh with each other as Haley talked about Americans’ economic concerns and the need to cut government spending. She said the government’s spending habits will lead to a detrimental interest expense being higher than the defense budget.
“But the reason no one should give you a number, Hugh, the amount of ships in the Navy, is because in a few years, our interest expense is gonna be more than our defense budget,” Haley said.
“So no one can give you that number realistically without first tackling what’s happening with the financial situation. It would be a false number to give you that. We have got to understand — this is a crisis. It is a national security concern. If we don’t deal with what’s gonna happen with that interest expense in a few years, we’re gonna look like Japan, and we can’t let that happen. The strong dollar matters.”
As Haley began talking, Ramaswamy and Scott made eye contact which prompted Ramaswamy to whisper something inaudible. Scott visibly started smiling. The two continued chatting during the remainder of Haley’s remark. (RELATED: ‘CORRUPT MEDIA!’: Vivek Nukes The RNC’S Entire NBC Panel, Crowd Goes Nuts)
The moment happened soon after Haley and Ramaswamy’s tense exchange after he brought up how Haley’s daughter had an account on TikTok. Haley told Ramaswamy to leave her daughter out of the discussion and called him “scum.”