Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had an awkward moment on MSNBC on Wednesday night when he seemed either unable or unwilling to explain his own past criticism of Donald Trump.
Host Mehdi Hasan asked Ramaswamy about a tweet calling Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, “downright abhorrent” that he wrote one week after the then-president’s supporters attacked the US Capitol in an attempt to block the certification of the electoral vote that made Joe Biden the next president.
Hasan asked Ramaswamy to explain what Trump did that day that he considered “downright abhorrent.”
He didn’t answer, despite being asked repeatedly.
“You’re avoiding my question,” Hasan asked after the first attempt went south. “What did Donald Trump do, in your view, that was ‘downright abhorrent’?”
“No, I’m not avoiding your question,” Ramaswamy said, then he avoided the question.
Hasan tried again.
“Unless you’re scared of him, why won’t you say what he did that was ‘downright abhorrent’?” Hasan asked. “It’s a simple question. It’s your words. It’s on the screen.”
Ramaswamy has been careful when speaking of Trump, often praising him and vowing to pardon him if elected. He’s also said he would offer the former president a spot in his own administration should he win the presidency in 2024.
Trump has reciprocated by offering praise for Ramaswamy.
“Anybody that said I’m the best president in a generation ... I have to like a guy like that,” he told Glenn Beck last month, and he said Ramaswamy would “be very good” as a possible running mate.