CENTERVILLE, Iowa — Former Vice President Mike Pence isn't saving his criticism of Vivek Ramaswamy for the debate stage only.
“He’s wrong on foreign policy, he’s wrong on American leadership in the world, He’s wrong on how we get this economy moving,” Pence said of Ramaswamy Wednesday while talking to reporters after a campaign stop.
The jabs come after the two shared a tense exchange a week ago in Milwaukee at the first Republican presidential debate. When discussing the economy, Pence obliquely referred to Ramaswamy as a “rookie” and said “now is not the time for on-the-job training.”
In a separate exchange between the two, Ramaswamy asked the audience, “Do you want a super PAC puppet, or do you want a patriot who speaks the truth?”
Tensions have been rising between Ramaswamy and Pence ever since.
On NBC News’ Meet The Press on Sunday, moderator Chuck Todd asked Ramaswamy if Pence did the right thing on January 6th.
“I would have done it very differently,” said Ramaswamy. “Here’s what I would have said: we need single-day voting on election day. We need paper ballots, and we need government-issued ID matching the voter file,” the 38-year-old entrepreneur said, implying he would have tied certifying the election to implementing changes to election procedures.
On Wednesday, Pence slammed Ramaswamy’s proposal when asked about it by NBC News.
“What he’s proposing in terms of using the authority as president of the Senate to nationalize elections was incoherent and unconstitutional,” Pence said.
Jan. 6 and elections are not the only issue the two candidates are sparring on.
Earlier Wednesday, Pence went after Ramaswamy while discussing the economy at the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce Forum.
“You all deserve to know that Vivek Ramaswamy wants a 59% inheritance tax. He wrote about it in his book last year,” Pence said, later adding: “I don’t think death should be a taxable event."
Ramaswamy’s campaign claimed in response that Pence never read Ramaswamy’s book.
“Vivek supports a 12% flat tax across the board, while eliminating cronyist deductions and loopholes. Vivek laid out a mathematical calculation on how to fully eliminate the federal income tax, which wasn’t even constitutional for most of its history. Vivek is an intellectual, not a partisan hack, so he explores ideas,” said Tricia McLaughlin, Ramasamy’s communications director in a statement to NBC News.
In his book, Nation Of Victims, Ramaswamy writes, “The way to save meritocracy from degenerating into aristocracy is to give inheritance and real estate taxes real teeth.”
“A hefty inheritance tax with no gaping loopholes gives us the best of meritocracy while avoiding the worst: people have an incentive to work hard and innovate during their lifetimes, but their children must start fresh, without getting to ride on their parents’ coattails,” he wrote.
Asked about his focus on Ramaswamy, Pence warned the GOP’s up-and-comer might not be the only candidate to face his criticism in the presidential campaign.
“I expect we’ll be talking about the other candidates in the field,” said Pence. “We drew some contrast with some others on that stage, but elections are about choices.”
