'Licking Donald Trump's boots': Vivek Ramaswamy's fiery attack on three other Republican candidates

Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for the US presidency, had yet another round of fiery presidential debate with fellow Republicans on Wednesday. In the fourth and final Republican presidential debate of the year, the biopharmaceutical entrepreneur accused Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, and Chris Christie of "licking Donald Trump's boots for years, for money and endorsements". 

"Ron DeSantis, you've been a great governor, but you would have never been one without begging him for that endorsement," Ramaswamy said. "Same thing for Nikki Haley. Same thing with Chris Christie." 

Ron DeSantis is the Governor of Florida, while Haley is the former Governor of South Carolina, and Christie is the former Governor of New Jersey. Donald Trump, who is leading the opinion polls, has refused to take part in the Republican primary debates.

Haley had also served as US ambassador to the United Nations under Donald Trump from 2017 to 2018. Christie, a former federal prosecutor, served as the Governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018.  

Ramaswamy, who has in the past defended Trump, on Wednesday went after what he called the real enemy, the "deep state". He said: "I think the real enemy is not Donald Trump. It's not Joe Biden — it's the deep state." He said he was the only candidate on this stage to say the January 6 insurrection "does look like it was an inside job". 

The entrepreneur further said that the 2020 election was stolen, a claim that Donald Trump also made in 2021 and that resulted in his followers storming Capitol Hill - the seat of the US government. Trump has been indicted on four counts for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Ramaswamy, whose popularity has soared in recent months, has announced that he would pardon the former president if elected to power. "If Donald Trump is the nominee, I will support him, and if I'm the president, yes, I will pardon him because that will help reunite the country," he said in an interview with ABC News in September.

After Trump was indicted, the billionaire entrepreneur said that he would be deeply disappointed if Donald Trump was unable to run "because of these politicized charges against him". He also accused US President Joe Biden of going after Trump to neutralise his political challenge in 2024. 

"That's not how we do things in America. We are not a country where the party in power should be able to use police force to indict its political opponents. And I stand not on the politics but on principle," he had said.