Amidst a fiery exchange at Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, Nikki Haley lashed out at Vivek Ramaswamy, branding him “scum” for mentioning her family.
During a discussion about restricting access to TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, Ramaswamy targeted Haley.
“I find it ironic that Nikki Haley didn’t address your question about looking families in the eye. In the last debate, she mocked me for joining TikTok while her own daughter used the app for a long time. Maybe focus on your family first,” he remarked.
“Leave my daughter out of this,” Haley retorted as the crowd booed Ramaswamy.
“You’re just scum,” she added, with this being a recurring point of contention between them at previous GOP debates.
Ramaswamy was the first candidate to directly confront his opponents at the debate, targeting Haley and DeSantis.
Continuing his criticism of Haley regarding TikTok, Ramaswamy said, “This is the problem when Republicans follow popular sentiments and talk tough on China.”
After the debate shifted to other issues and went to commercial, a TV ad for TikTok aired in numerous U.S. markets.
