Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie questioned “what the hell” Vivek Ramaswamy is doing running for president after the Republican candidate declared Donald Trump as the “best president” of the 21st century during the first GOP presidential debate.
Ramaswamy, in response to Christie’s “conduct” remark on Trump, gave the former president the title in what led to a fiery exchange between the two candidates on Wednesday.
Christie, on Thursday, called on Ramaswamy to “drop out” after the former president thanked the candidate for his praise.
“If Vivek thinks that Donald Trump is the greatest president of the 21st century, what the hell is he doing running?” asked Christie in an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto.
“He should drop out tomorrow.”
Christie also knocked Ramaswamy for “plagiarizing” his “skinny guy with a funny last name” remark at the debate from former President Barack Obama, who referred to himself as a “skinny kid with a funny name” during the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
The former New Jersey governor noted the similar remarks during the debate before calling Ramaswamy the “same type of amateur” as Obama.
Christie, who slammed Ramaswamy’s “irresponsible… bought and paid for” accusations aimed at candidates, doubled down on his criticism on Thursday.
“I’ve never profited a dime off of my public service and never will and for him to say it was unfair, and that’s why I jumped in at that point and I interrupted and called him an amateur,” Christie explained.
“He can’t even remember what he’s plagiarizing any longer… he uses the very same phraseology [as Obama’s speech], I mean, this is a guy who has, you know, no principle.”