(ConservativeSense.com) – While Republican primary voters thought Florida Governor Ron DeSantis won last Wednesday’s GOP primary debate, Donald Trump declared Vivek Ramaswamy the winner solely because Ramaswamy praised him, Politico reported.
Trump, who refused to attend last week’s Republican primary debate on Fox, shared a video clip from the debate on Truth Social in which Ramaswamy described him as “the best president of the 21st century.”
Calling Ramaswamy’s answer “a big win,” Trump thanked his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s friend for praising him.
Ramaswamy, who many suspect is a stalking horse for Trump in the primaries, was also the first candidate to raise his hand when the moderator asked if the candidates would support Donald Trump as the nominee even if he was convicted on any of the charges he is facing.
The overly eager Ramaswamy then demanded that the other candidates commit to pardoning Trump if they win the election.
The first GOP debate of the primary season drew a large audience, averaging 12.8 million viewers. The Trump-free debate drew far more viewers than anticipated, as many industry experts expected viewers to tune out without Trump on the stage.
A Washington Post/FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll conducted after the debate found that Ron DeSantis came out the winner, with 29 percent of Republican voters saying he gave the best debate performance. Vivek Ramaswamy finished in second place with 26 percent.
The results indicate that Republican primary voters were more impressed with DeSantis’ decision to stay out of the fray during the raucous debate than they were with Ramaswamy’s performative antics.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley came in third with 15 percent.
The rest of the debate participants failed to make double digits, with only 7 percent favoring former Vice President Mike Pence, while Chris Christie and Senator Tim Scott received only 4 percent.
At the bottom of the list were North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who each received only 1 percent.
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