Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called out a CNN anchor live on-air Wednesday after she brought up former President Donald Trump’s comments instead of China.
CNN’s Abby Phillip asked Ramaswamy whether he believes Trump’s “they live like vermin” comment from the latter’s Veteran’s Day statement was “neo-Nazi rhetoric.” Phillip cited Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie, who recently agreed with President Joe Biden’s comparison of the remark to Nazi Germany.
“This is a classic mainstream media move,” Ramaswamy responded. “Pick some individual phrase of Donald Trump, focus on literally that word without actually interrogating the substance of what’s at issue.”
WATCH: Vivek calls out CNN host live on air: “This is a classic mainstream media move. You pick some phrase of Trump, focus on that word without interrogating the substance of what’s at issue. Let’s have a policy debate.” pic.twitter.com/blQP3deXGs
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Phillip repeatedly interrupted Ramaswamy as he brought up the “cultural war” in the United States. She argued “the word was chosen for a reason.” The Republican candidate said “we’re not in ordinary times,” citing violent protesters “burning down cities” and the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Would you use that vocabulary yourself?” Phillip asked.
“I talk about the issues,” Ramaswamy continued. “We all talk about them differently. But what I’m not gonna do is play some game of focusing on some word that somebody else said with ignoring entirely the substance of what we’re actually talking about: A border crisis of historic proportions. Economic stagnation we haven’t seen in 50 years. A national identity crisis and the lose of national pride in the next generation that’s potentially existential for this country.” (RELATED: ‘He’s Begging Them’: Fox Guest Slams Biden’s ‘Incredible Weakness’ During China Meeting Amid Growing Tensions)
Ramaswamy argued the two should’ve been talking about the United States’ dependence on China rather than Trump. He criticized Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom for “[rolling] out the red carpet” for Chinese President Xi Jinping by cleaning up the streets of San Francisco ahead of Wednesday’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.
“You know what’s vermin? What’s running around San Francisco on a given day before Gavin Newsom cleaned it up on a dime to roll out the red carpet for Xi Jinping,” Ramaswamy told Phillip. “If he could do that for Xi Jinping, he could have done it on an ordinary day, and yet we’re here … talking not about the substance of that, but on one word that Donald Trump said in some speech in Miami.”
“Focus on the substance, and let’s have an actual policy debate, rather than talking to a presidential candidate instead of the policy substance of what’s actually going on in the country.”