Ramaswamy Flips the Script After CNN Hosts Asks ‘Gotcha’ Question About Trump

They call it a red herring. It’s the left’s go-to weapon in their attempt to combat the truth. The problem is they’re not very good at using it. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, a good way to extend a fox hunt back in the day was to drag a dead cat across the trail to cover the fox’s scent and confuse the hounds. They called the technique a red herring because “smoked and salted herrings turn bright red in the curing process and emit a pungent, fishy smell” that might confuse a hound. When CNN’s Abby Phillip asked GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy if he thinks Trump’s comment “they live like vermin” — delivered in a Veteran’s Day statement — was “neo-Nazi rhetoric,” Ramaswamy wasn’t confused, reported the Daily Caller. Whatever else you might think about Ramaswamy, you have to admit he’s a smart guy. And he doesn’t pull punches. He uses logic like a boxer uses a straight right to the jaw. Phillip cited Chris Christie — the GOP RINO also running for president — who joined in with Joe Biden’s comparison of the “vermin” remark to Nazi Germany. “Trump’s a Nazi” seems to be all the left can come up with. Fear Trump. Trump is scary. Orange Man is bad. We’ve heard it all a thousand times. Ramaswamy refused to be distracted. “This is a classic mainstream media move,” he reponded. “Pick some individual phrase of Donald Trump, focus on literally that word without actually interrogating the substance of what’s at issue.” Phillip tried to lure Ramaswamy back on the “Trump is a Nazi” trail by interrupting him, and when Ramaswamy brought up the “cultural war” in the United States, Phillip argued that “the word was chosen for a reason.” [firefly_poll] But Ramaswamy was on track. He wasn’t getting off. “We’re not in ordinary times,” he said.  He then said violent protesters are “burning down cities” and pointed out the border crisis.

You want to know what actual “vermin” is? It’s what crawls around San Francisco daily, until Gavin Newsom chose to finally clean it up on a dime in honor of Xi Jinping. This is a classic MSM trick: obsess over some random word Trump said & sanctimoniously condemn him while… pic.twitter.com/jZpuTLHD4F

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 16, 2023

Phillip refused to give up. She wasn’t being courageous. She didn’t have anything else in her arsenal. “Trump is a Nazi” was the best she could do. “Would you use that language yourself?” Phillip asked. The would-be gotcha question shifted Ramaswamy into high gear. If he said yes, he would be a neo-Nazi. If he said no, he would be implicating Trump as a neo-Nazi. Time to flip the script. “I talk about the issues,” he said. “We all talk about them differently. But what I’m not gonna do is play some game of focusing on some word that somebody else said without ignoring entirely the substance of what we’re actually talking about: A border crisis of historic proportions. Economic stagnation we haven’t seen in 50 years. A national identity crisis and the loss of national pride in the next generation that’s potentially existential for this country.” Ramaswamy was just getting started. All Phillips could do at this point was sit in her chair looking consternated. “You have antifa and other related groups that have been burning down cities for the last three years in this country,” Ramaswamy riffed. “Wildly violating the rule of law. We have an invasion on our southern border. We have millions of people crossing our southern border. Let’s talk about the substance.” Ramaswamy contended that instead of talking to a presidential candidate about a word Trump used, they should talk about the United States’ dependence on China. He then attacked super-progressive Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom for putting “out the red carpet” for Chinese President Xi Jinping at Wednesday’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.

NEW: CNN host sits in silence for nearly 2 minutes as Vivek Ramaswamy goes off after she tries asking “gotcha” question about Trump.

The moment came when CNN host Abby Phillip asked about how Trump called his political opponents “vermin.” Vivek then flipped the script and went… pic.twitter.com/inCRi532IS — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 16, 2023

“You know what’s vermin?” Ramaswamy asked Phillips, intentionally using the word. “What’s running around San Francisco on a given day before Gavin Newsom cleaned it up on a dime to roll out the red carpet for Xi Jinping. If he could do that for Xi Jinping, he could have done it on an ordinary day, and yet we’re here … talking not about the substance of that, but on one word that Donald Trump said in some speech in Miami.” “Focus on the substance, and let’s have an actual policy debate,” Ramaswamy demanded. “Give me a break.” The world is on fire, and all the left can do is call their rivals stinky names in the hopes of confusing voters with fear. Give me a break indeed.

---

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.