Ramaswamy Draws Early Fire From His GOP Rivals

Eight Republican candidates not named Trump were trying to break out in the first Republican debate Wednesday night in Milwaukee. In the early going, 38-year-old entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy took flak a number of times. Details:

• "Let me just address a question that is on everybody's mind at home tonight," Ramaswamy said in his introduction, per the AP. "Who the heck is this skinny guy with a funny last name?" He defended being inexperienced politically and said an "outsider" was needed, as opposed to "professional politicians," per the Washington Post.
• Mike Pence: "Now is not the time for on-the-job training," he said during an exchange with Ramaswamy, per the New York Times. "We don't need to bring in a rookie. We don't need to bring in people without experience."
• Chris Christie: "The last person in one of these debates who stood in the middle of the stage and said, 'What's a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here?' was Barack Obama, and I'm afraid we're dealing with the same type of amateur," Christie said. Ramaswamy shot back quickly that Christie should help him get elected, just as he did Obama. Christie also said Ramaswamy sounded like ChatGPT.

(More Republican debate stories.)