You have no experience...: Haley blasts Ramaswamy for his foreign policy stance during GOP debate

One of the sharpest exchanges during the first Republican debate was betweenformer South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy - both persons of Indian origin. On Wednesday night (August 23), the two sparred over Ukraine funding at the debate stage in Milwaukee as Haley slammed Ramaswamy for lacking foreign policy experience and supporting a 'dictator' like Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Nearly an hour into the debate, the Fox News moderators posed questions on the Ukraine war and asked the eight candidates if they would continue supporting/funding Kyiv in its war against Moscow.

While the majorityvowed to continue support to Ukraine, Ramaswamy took a defiantly opposite position.

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He suggested that supporting Ukraine when the US hadn’t fixed its own problems was “disastrous". Consequently,Haley accused him of supporting America’s foreign adversaries and abandoning its friends.

Look at what Putin did: Haley

“He wants to hand Ukraine to Russia, he wants to let China eat Taiwan, he wants to go and stop funding Israel,” said Haley, adding:You don’t do that to friends. What you do instead is you have the backs of your friends.”

Notably, in a recent interviewon Russell Brand's Rumble show, Ramaswamy saidhe would end funding to Israel when a $38 billion package ends in 2028.

Watch | Trump pastor attacks Vivek Ramaswamy’s Hindu faith, says there will be “strange gods in White House”

Upon being cornered, Ramaswamy responded, saying, “Our relationship with Israel would never be stronger than by the end of my first term, but it’s not a client relationship, it’s a friendship and you know what friends do? Friends help each other stand on their own two feet.”

“You know what I love about them, I love their border policies, I love their tough-on-crime policies, I love that they have a national identity and an Iron Dome to protect their homeland, so yes I want to learn from the friends that we’re supporting,” Ramaswamy said.

Despite Ramswamy's arguments, Haley continued to push back. “Look at what Putin did today. He killed [Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny] Prigozhin. When I was at the UN, the Russian ambassador suddenly died. This guy is a murderer and you are choosing a murderer," Haley said.

"You have no experience in foreign policy, and it shows," she added.

To which Ramaswamy replied, referring to top US defence contractors: “I wish you well in your future career on the boards of Lockheed [Martin] and Raytheon."

In his parting remarks on the issue, Ramaswamy accused all the GOP leaders on the stage of taking a similar position to that of President Joe Biden.

“I reject the consensus that 'winning' in Ukraine is a vital US interest. Nearly the entire GOP (Republican) field rails against (Joe) Biden, but cut through the grandstanding & it turns out they’re solidly with him on the most important foreign policy issue of our time. America First 2.0."

(With inputs from agencies)

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