Republican debate turns nasty as Pence and Christie taunt Ramaswamy over lack of experience: ‘We don’t need a rookie’

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The first Republican primary debate turned nasty as former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie both went after entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Mr Pence called the 38-year-old a “rookie” and said the US doesn’t have time for “on-the-job training” as he brought up the issue of the national debt.

“I was a House conservative leader before it was cool,” Mr Pence, 64, said, noting his experience in comparison to the younger Mr Ramaswamy. “I actually pushed the Deficit Reduction Act. That was the last time we actually reduced the national debt in the United States.”

“When I was the leader of the House conservatives, I balanced budgets and cut taxes when I was governor. Joe Biden has weakened this country at home and abroad,” he added. “Now is not the time for on-the-job training. We don't need to bring in a rookie.”

Mr Ramaswamy said now that “everybody's gotten their memorised, pre-prepared slogans out of the way, we can actually have a real discussion”.

“You have a bunch of people, professional politicians, super PAC puppets following slogans handed over to them by their ... Super PACs last week,” he added in reference to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. “The real choice we face in this primary is this – do you want a super PAC puppet? Or do you want a patriot who speaks the truth? Do you want incremental reform, which is what you're hearing about, or do you want revolution? I stand on the side of the American Revolution.”

Mr Christie called out Mr Ramaswamy for appearing to steal a line from former President Barack Obama, saying that he was a “skinny guy with an odd last name”.

“I have had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT,” Mr Christie said.

“The last person in one of these debates who stood in the middle of the stage and said ‘what's a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here’ was Barack Obama. And I'm afraid we're dealing with the same type of amateur,” he added.