NBC’s Chuck Todd spun up another baseless “collusion” theory Thursday about former President Donald Trump interfering in the 2024 Republican presidential debates.
Todd theorized Trump colluded with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to “hijack and attack” the candidates he would like to see fail.
“Part of it is, this Vivek Ramaswamy guy, it’s pretty clear he’s not a serious candidate for president,” Todd told “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker. “If you now look at how he’s behaved at every debate, it’s very tactical, right? It’s all about trying to find a way to almost hijack the debate in some form. Tried to do it to the NBC debate. Tried to do it at the beginning of this debate. Tried to do it at the beginning of the first Fox debate. This is what he does. And it’s amazing, perhaps it’s coincidental, I have no evidence, but it seems that he is able to hijack and attack the person Trump would like to see fail the most. And he just comes across like Trump’s best asset on that stage each and every time.”
Todd said Ramaswamy is an “impediment” to both Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley. He said Ramaswamy’s “looney conspiracy theories” and behavior is benefiting Trump by “rattling” his opponents on stage. (RELATED: ‘That’s Absolutely False’: Vivek Ramaswamy, Chuck Todd Get Into Heated Spat Over 2020 Election)
“He’s really an impediment I think for both DeSantis and Nikki Haley. Like there’s a point here. Look, you gotta deal with a troll when they run for president, but he’s such an impediment at these debates that you can’t break through because of his nonsense … that is what makes it like, what are you doing? Because everything you’re doing is pushing people away from you, but you’re rattling those opponents of Trump, so it benefits Trump,” Todd said.
“That’s why you have to sit here and you have to ask yourself, is he serious about running for president or is he just trying to be a Trump surrogate?” he said.
Ramaswamy sparred with Haley, DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on stage during Wednesday night’s debate. Christie confronted him about interrupting him and called the entrepreneur “the most obnoxious blowhard in America.”
During the exchange, Ramaswamy told Christie to step off the stage and “enjoy a nice meal.”