When All But 2 on GOP Debate Raise Hands in Support of Trump, Christie and Ramaswamy Go to War

Republican presidential candidates Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy fought each other on the Republican primary debate stage, Wednesday after all but two candidates said they would support President Donald Trump as the party’s nominee even if he were convicted.

“We are going to take a brief moment and talk about the elephant not in the room,” declared Fox News host Bret Baier, before asking the candidates, “You all signed a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee. If former President Trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party’s choice? Please raise your hand if you would.”

Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) were the first candidates to raise their hands, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence after a brief pause.

Christie then appeared to raise his hand, before wagging his finger and shaking his head, seemingly in disapproval, while Hutchinson remained still and did not raise his hand at all.

After the other candidates lowered their hands, Ramaswamy kept his hand raised and grinned, seemingly to indicate that he had the most support for Trump out of everyone on the stage.

“Just to be clear, Governor Christie, you were kind of late to the game there but you raised your hand?” questioned Baier.

Christie responded, “No, I’m doing this. Look. Look, I’m doing this,” while shaking his finger.

“Here’s the bottom line. Someone’s got to stop normalizing this conduct, okay?” Christie continued. “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.”

After Christie received a mixture of boos and cheers from the audience, he remarked, “This is the great thing about this country. Booing is allowed, but it doesn’t change the truth. It doesn’t change the truth.”

Ramaswamy then shot back at Christie, commenting:

Let’s just speak the truth, okay? President Trump, I believe, was the best president of the 21st century. It’s a fact, and Chris Christie, honest to God, your claim that Donald Trump is motivated by vengeance and grievance would be a lot more credible if your entire campaign were not based on vengeance and grievance against one man.

And if people at home want to see a bunch of people blindly bashing Donald Trump without an iota of vision for this country, they can just change the channel to MSNBC right now, but I’m not running for president of MSNBC. I am running for president of the United States. We’re skating on thin ice and we cannot set a precedent where the party in power uses police force to indict its political opponents.

Watch above via Fox News.