“We are going to take a brief moment and talk about the elephant not in the room,” Fox News host Bret Baier said to the Republican candidates on the debate stage tonight, before asking if they would support former President Donald Trump as the Republican nominee even if he was convicted in a court of law for one of the numerous charges against him.
“You all signed a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee,” Baier said, asking them to again raise their hand if they would commit if it was Trump.
Every candidate except for former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson raised their hand.
Vivek Ramaswamy’s hand was the first to shoot up. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie raised his own hand with some trepidation.
“Whether or not you believe the criminal charges are right or wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of the united states,” Christie said, drawing boos.
When Ramaswamy jumped in to defend Trump, claiming that Christie’s campaign was based on resentment against Trump, Christie shot back, saying that Ramaswamy made him laugh.
That drew loud enough boos to prevent Christie from continuing to speak. Baier had to turn around and plead with the crowd to let them keep talking.
“Let’s just get through this,” Baier said to the crowd,
“Christie is at his worst when he goes after #Trump and #Vivek called him on it,” commented @wisconsin_now.
Hutchinson later said he believed Trump was morally disqualified from being president after what happened at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, the only candidate to do so.
“Obviously I’m not going to support somebody who’s been convicted of a serious felony,” Hutchinson said.
Luckily for Christie, the booing didn’t have an impact on his polling. He’s still hovering at around 5%.
