Christie says Ramaswamy not a ‘serious contender’

GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie blasted his primary opponent Vivek Ramaswamy on Sunday, labeling him as not a “serious contender.”

“No. What he’s become is someone who, you know, likes to get interviewed on TV. But no, I don’t think he’s a serious contender,” Christie said when asked by Fox News’s “Media Buzz” host Howard Kurtz if Ramaswamy was a “serious contender.”

Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, appeared to take aim at Ramaswamy’s foreign policy proposal — a platform that has been ridiculed by critics as “criminally stupid” and “always wrong.” Ramaswamy, who has not held public office, released his foreign policy platform late last month after facing criticism on the GOP debate stage for a lack of experience.

“Anybody who wants to treat Israel like we treat any other country in the Middle East, anybody who wants to give away Taiwan to the Chinese by 2028, anybody who thinks that, you know, as — Howie, as this week Vladimir Putin meets with Kim Jong-un, that he thinks he’s going to be able to go over to Russia and convince Vladimir Putin to break from Kim Jong-un, the mullahs in Iran and President [Xi Jinping] of China, all autocratic leaders, to be friends with us?” Christie said.

“This is a guy who lives in his own world and is not a serious candidate for president of the United States,” Christie added.

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley took aim at Ramaswamy on the debate stage last month, saying that he has “no foreign policy experience and it shows.” Pence also knocked Ramaswamy, saying that “now is not the time for on-the-job training” and that they “don’t need to bring in a rookie.”

Ramaswamy has been trailing former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in the polls but remains in third place across many national polls. According to RealClearPolitics’s GOP primary polling average, Ramaswamy is polling at about 6.6 percent support.