‘HORRIBLE’

Trump Savages His Rivals’ Debate Performances From the Sidelines

Though he did have kind words for one candidate.

Despite sitting out the first Republican presidential debate, Donald Trump made sure he had his say about his 2024 rivals’ performances at the event on Wednesday night in a flurry of name-calling and score-settling. “Chris Christie was horrible tonight,” the former president wrote on his Truth Social platform. “He was booed at a level never seen before at such a debate.” Referring to former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Trump similarly opined that “‘Aida’ was a joke tonight. He’s over!” while “DeSanctimonious was a ‘BOMB.’” He also took issue with a comment from his former Vice President Mike Pence, who said during the debate that Trump asked him to prioritize Trump “over the Constitution” in the wake of the 2020 election. “I never asked Mike Pence to put me above the Constitution,” Trump raged. “Who would say such a thing? A FAKE STORY!” He did, however, have nice things to say about Vivek Ramaswamy, who called Trump “the best president of the 21st century” during the debate. “This answer gave Vivek Ramaswamy a big WIN in the debate because of a thing called TRUTH,” Trump wrote. “Thank you Vivek!”

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Dan Ladden-HallBreaking News Editor

Martha MercerEditor

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.