The conservative presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy upstaged all others during the debate last night with one viral moment.
Fox News host Bret Baier asked all eight Republican candidates on stage whether they would commit to supporting Donald Trump as the nominee even if he is convicted on the many criminal charges he is currently facing.
“If former President Trump is convicted in a court of law would you still support him as your party’s choice?” Baier asked. “Please raise your hand if you would.”
Ramaswamy’s hand was the first to go up immediately.
He was followed quickly thereafter by former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (R).
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) looked to his left after being posed the question, looked to his right, then looked back to the left again.
Only after seeing Ramaswamy, Haley, Scott, and Burgum with their hands aloft, and upon hearing the cheers from the crowd, did DeSantis raise his hand in a half-hearted manner.
Watch closely. pic.twitter.com/1zjdTjxcUn
— Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) August 24, 2023
RELATED: Vivek Nails It: Goes All Out Against ‘Political Persecution’ Of Trump
Who Is Leading The Way On Trump?
Leaders lead.
DeSantis has been a leader in several arenas including opposition to mask and vaccine mandates, eliminating woke CRT from being taught in schools, and keeping transgender groomers away from kids.
But on the matter of defending Trump, he has been woefully behind.
The video above shows DeSantis following Ramaswamy on the pledge to support Trump, while also gauging crowd reaction before committing himself.
In reality, it should be a no-brainer.
WOW! Very telling moment as candidates are asked if they’d support a convicted Donald Trump as the party’s choice.
Ramaswamy immediately raises hand.
Haley and Scott follow.
DeSantis hesitates and looks first to see if others have raised hands before raising hand.
Pence… pic.twitter.com/V3G9KIanaJ
— Brandon Straka (@BrandonStraka) August 24, 2023
Ramaswamy has been the one true leader when it comes to supporting Trump during a tumultuous time, calling the ongoing Democrat-motivated indictments against him “political persecutions.”
He even offered to author an amicus brief to provide the court information in defense of Trump after he was indicted in Georgia for alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Here we go again: another disastrous Trump indictment. It’s downright pathetic that Fulton County publicly posted the indictment on its website even before the grand jury had finished convening. Since the four prosecutions against Trump are using novel & untested legal theories,… pic.twitter.com/LOYkGcCgm5
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) August 14, 2023
Ramaswamy has been surging in the polls, with his whole-hearted defense of Trump being a significant reason why.
He has challenged every other presidential candidate to sign a pledge that they would right the wrong of “politicized persecutions” and pardon Trump.
By contrast, when news surfaced that the former president was the target of a Justice Department investigation into the January 6th riot at the Capitol, DeSantis suggested that he should have acted more forcefully that day.
DeSantis goes after Trump over January 6th:
“I think it was shown how he was in the White House & didn’t do anything while things were going on. He should have come out more forcefully.” pic.twitter.com/SErzEn8ib0
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 18, 2023
RELATED: Vivek Ramaswamy Just Caught Ron DeSantis For Second Place In Latest GOP Poll
Trump Praises Ramaswamy’s Debate Performance
Ramaswamy earned high praise for his debate performance – from Trump himself.
What particularly struck Trump was a response to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who suggested “someone’s got to stop normalizing (Trump’s) conduct.”
“Whether or not you believe that the criminal charges are right or wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of president of the United States,” Christie said.
Conduct is irrelevant compared to jailing political opponents, Mr. Christie.
“I’d like to get in and respond,” Ramaswamy fired back. “Let’s just speak the truth, okay? President Trump, I believe, was the best president of the 21st Century.”
Trump posted a clip of his comments on Truth Social with the caption: “This answer gave Vivek Ramaswamy a big WIN in the debate because of a thing called TRUTH. Thank you Vivek!”
Ramaswamy sure felt like he was the recognized leader on that debate stage last night. He was attacked by nearly all of the other candidates desperate to get traction in the polling.
In another strong moment, Vivek expressed his disdain with colleagues willing to put Ukraine above the country they’re running to lead.
“I find it offensive that we have professional politicians on this stage that will make a pilgrimage to Kyiv, to their pope, [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, without doing the same thing for people in Maui,” he said in a fiery remark.
RAMASWAMY: “I find it offensive that we have professional politicians on this stage that will make a pilgrimage to Kyiv to their ‘Pope’ Zelensky without doing the same thing for the people in Maui…”
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 24, 2023
Everybody should find that offensive.
A Daily Mail poll showed viewers felt Ramaswamy won the GOP debate, barely beating out DeSantis.
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