After watching the third Republican debate (and then rewatching it again later that night), I believe Vivek Ramaswamy was the debate’s winner. He was sharp, poised, articulate, informed, passionate, and, most importantly, fearless on Wednesday night. Ramaswamy came out swinging by criticizing Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel for her inability to guide the party to electoral success. He blasted her failed leadership and stated that she should resign.
“I think there’s something deeper going on in the Republican Party here, and I am upset about what happened last night. We’ve become a party of losers at the end of the day. There’s a cancer in the Republican establishment,” Ramaswamy said.
WHAT THE GOP CAN LEARN FROM 2023
It was a message that needed to be said. I'm not sure the victory will do anything to change who the GOP front-runner is, but on Wednesday night, he was the clear victor. And to have this victory as a political outsider, someone who never held political office, unlike the other candidates on the debate stage, speaks volumes. More often than not, Vivek says what many people are thinking but are too afraid to actually say.
“Let’s speak the truth: Since Ronna McDaniel took over as chairwoman of the RNC in 2017, we have lost 2018, 2020, 2022 — no red wave that ever came. We got trounced last night in 2023. And I think that we have to have accountability in our party,” Ramaswamy said. “For that matter, Ronna, if you want to come onstage tonight, you want to look the GOP voters in the eye and tell them you resign, I will turn over, yield my time to you.”
Ramaswamy then attacked against NBC (the network hosting the debate), the moderators, and the “corrupt media establishment.” He criticized them for their anti-Republican bias and dishonesty in reporting, which contributed to manipulating public opinion in the last two presidential elections and, in turn, votes.
“I’m going to use this time because this is actually about you and the media, and the corrupt media establishment … the Trump-Russia collusion hoax that you pushed on this network for years, was that real, or was that Hillary Clinton made-up disinformation? Answer the question, go!” Ramaswamy said to debate moderators Lester Holt and Kristen Welker.
“This is how we get our country back. We need accountability because this media rigged the 2016 election, they rigged the 2020 election with the Hunter Biden laptop story, and they’re gonna rig this election unless we have accountability,” he added.
In one fell swoop, Ramaswamy aired the grievances many Republican voters have felt for seven years. The look on Welker’s face after Ramaswamy’s response was priceless; a picture of it belongs in the Smithsonian. Ramaswamy may not be everyone’s preferred choice, but no one could objectively deny the veracity of his statements. The reply was strong, firm, and fair, indicative of a viable and effective party leader.
But he did more than provide memorable sound bites and “gotcha” politics with the moderators. He then touched on a variety of important topics facing the nation, from abortion to the fentanyl crisis to border security. In perhaps one of his best responses regarding policy issues, Ramaswamy spoke about the border crisis and revealed problems at the southern and northern border, a rarely acknowledged detail.
He discussed the fentanyl crisis and how it is being trafficked in the country, leading to the deaths of thousands of Americans. He then made one of the boldest statements of the night, claiming that the government actually needed two walls, one at each border, to protect people from the fentanyl smuggled into the country.
Ramaswamy is a political newcomer, and many criticized him for misfiring in the first two debates. The third time was apparently the charm, and he rose to the occasion. On Wednesday night, Ramaswamy was the star and the victor. And while former President Donald Trump is still the clear front-runner, Ramaswamy’s performance gave his campaign a jolt before the final debate in December and the Iowa caucus in January.