My Thoughts on Vivek Ramaswamy Ripping the Media and Ronna McDaniel at Republican Debate

If “Will Be Remembered” is on a debate assessment rubric, Vivek Ramaswamy certainly received an A+ for that category for his performance at the third Republican primary debate on Wednesday night in Miami, specifically for blasting Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Ronna McDaniel. But was his attack either authentic or appropriate?

Ramaswamy has garnered both praise and criticism for his response to a question about why he, not former President Donald Trump, should be the GOP nominee. The first obvious observation is that his answer had absolutely nothing to do with the question. Instead, it appeared he wanted to make sure he got to fire a pre-planned attack on the RNC and the media. Lest he not get a chance at it, he threw it in as early as possible, timing be darned! After all, no one would remember the timing anyway—well, except me—because they would be too focused on the barb itself. Check out the moment:

Notably, Megyn Kelly spent quite some time on her show criticizing Ramaswamy—not so much for the attack itself, but for its inauthenticity. Jason Whitlock, however, salivated over it.

I side with Kelly. I, too, doubt the authenticity. Overall, I don’t know what to make of Ramaswamy. He’s smooth. He’s intelligent. He’s confident. He’s also arrogant, annoying, and obnoxious. But he’s not the only presidential candidate to have such a mix of characteristics. In the case of his reply, I found his anger about the election results the day prior to be disingenuous, but the bigger picture for me, something I’m torn about, is how he handled McDaniel. I don’t disagree with what he said at all. Clearly, the Republican Party has some serious work to do, and McDaniel doesn’t seem to be the one capable of getting it done, so I can definitely get behind someone else taking her place. When watching him blast her, part of me wanted to jump up and cheer, even as my jaw dropped beholding his boldness, but the other part of me thought his actions were disrespectful and unbecoming of the occasion—not to mention canned. So, again, I’m torn.

As I’ve thought about it and heard a dozen replays of it, I’m reminded of the time Rep. Joe Wilson yelled, “You lie!” as then-President Barack Obama gave a speech about Obamacare in the House Chamber. I wrote a piece at the time about that occurrence, expressing my disapproval. Many disagreed with me, for the same reasons, I’m sure, some will disagree with me questioning Ramaswamy’s dis of McDaniel—offering to yield his time to her so she could take the mic and resign. Some will say we need more people like him willing to call folks out. I get it. I’m just not sure embarrassing people the way he did the RNC chair is the right way to go about things.