Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the Republican presidential hopefuls, has hit out at former New Jersey governor Chris Christie for taking a trip to ‘halfway around the globe to Kiev while “ignoring the invasion” at the country’s southern border with Mexico.
“Ukraine-ism is now a new religion. Kiev is the Vatican, Zelensky is the pope, and career politicians in both parties are the new faithful,” the 37-year-old Ramaswamy posted on social media platform X over weekend, while commenting on Christie’s previously announced visit to Kiev this month.
“It’s sad that they’ll make a pilgrimage halfway around the world while ignoring the invasion across our own southern border right here at home,” argued Ramaswamy, a former biotech industry executive.
According to American media coverage, there has been significant upsurge in illegal border crossings from Mexico into the US since May, when Washington lifted its Covid-related curbs on asylum-seeker applications under ‘Title 42’.
Both Ramaswamy and Christie, along with former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and ex Vice-President Mike Pence, have thrown their hats in the ring to secure a GOP presidential nomination against incumbent Joe Biden next year. However, it’s a longshot for either of them to secure the GOP nomination, according to opinion polls reported in US media.
Polls peg former US President Donald Trump as a favourite among Republican voters, although the former leader has been indicted in several cases, including one on handling of classified documents, and faces stiff opposition from some establishment GOP politicians.
However, sharp divisions have emerged in the Republican Party on the question of continuing American military and financial assistance to Ukraine.
Both Ramaswamy and Trump have questioned Biden on keeping at supplying military aid to Ukraine, amid bribe allegations against Hunter Biden.
Reports suggest that Hunter was paid millions of dollars in bribe by Ukrainian energy company Burisma during the Barak Obama presidency, when Joe Biden served as vice-president.
The White House said that Biden was unaware of his son’s business dealings. The Biden administration conveyed that it would continue to aid Ukraine for "as long as it takes".
‘Not Crazy to Think’ that Biden Helping Ukraine Because of Links to Hunter
For his part, Ramaswamy has suggested that it wasn’t crazy to think that the Biden administration was showering Kiev with billions of dollars in military assistance because of the alleged bribe paid to Hunter.
“It’s crazier to think it’s totally unrelated, and craziest of all is that the GOP is playing along as if they’re in on the act,” the Indian-American GOP political said.
The former president told Fox News last month that he could end the war in a day if he were to be elected as the next president.