As expected, the aftermath of the first GOP presidential debate has brought with it a plethora of reactions, some good, some bad, some thoughtful, some not, and most of which at this point continue to line up along party/candidate choice lines.

One eyebrow-raising response to what went down during the debate came from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who in her post-debate commentary alongside Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) shared her thoughts on the moment where former NJ Gov. Chris Christie ripped into Vivek Ramaswamy not long after Ramaswamy lifted a line from former President Barack Obama in his opening remarks.

Before we get to what MTG claimed, here's what Ramaswamy said that triggered Christie's reaction:

🔥@ChrisChristie absolutely wrecked @VivekGRamaswamy last night as new side-by-side video released based on Christie’s comments showing Obama/Vivek and their eerily similar messaging.

pic.twitter.com/iGqa65dVrp

— Cryptid Politics 🇺🇸🐊 (@CryptidPolitics) August 24, 2023

"The last person in one of these debates who stood in the middle of the stage and said, ‘What's a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here?’ was Barack Obama," Christie declared. "And I am afraid we are dealing with the same type of amateur standing on the stage tonight."

While in my opinion, a growing number of people walked away with that same impression of Ramaswamy after the Wednesday night sparring match, one thing I don't think most people would feel is an accurate takeaway from the Christie/Vivek exchange would be that Christie's comments were "racist."

And yet that's exactly what Greene came up with.

“I was pretty disgusted at Chris Christie and his racist comment towards Vivek Ramaswamy,” Greene, who is a staunch surrogate of former President Donald Trump and his presidential campaign, proclaimed. “He compared him to Obama. I honestly thought that was pretty racist.”

Watch:

Greene: I was pretty disgusted by Chris Christie and his racist comment towards Vivek Ramaswamy… He compared him to Obama. I thought that was pretty racist pic.twitter.com/iz41OgJVqh

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 24, 2023

My first, second, and final thoughts on this when I saw it were "huh?"  I mean I'm no fan at all of Chris Christie's but if this constitutes "racism" - pointing out that Ramaswamy used a nearly identical line that Obama once did - then the definition of the word is completely lost with no hope of ever being recovered.

The only thing I can think of here in MTG's (possible) defense is that she wasn't really paying that much attention to what was being said. As evidence, I present this photo:

I’m sitting directly behind @RepMTG at the GOP presidential debate and her attention appears to be at least…. divided. pic.twitter.com/KYdJQkBJPx

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 24, 2023

Maybe being distracted made her say what she did. Or maybe it was a calculated move for a different reason..

"Marjorie Taylor Greene claims Chris Christie is 'racist' for pointing out Vivek stole Obama's line about being a skinny kid with a funny last name," Erick Erickson opined. "They're being pretty open about Vivek serving as a proxy for Trump instead of actually running for President."

Whatever the case may be, as RedState readers know, the true definition of the word "racism" has been severely and purposedly diluted over the last few decades thanks to opportunistic Democrats and related race hustlers on the left who use the race card where it usually never belongs in attempts at shutting up/canceling their political opposition. 

I get that MTG is a Trump backer and that in attacking Christie along those lines she's hoping to do some damage to the longshot campaign of one of Trump's most vocal Republican critics. But honestly, Christie doesn't really need any help in doing that. As history has shown us, he does quite well at self-destructing all on his own. 

But in my opinion, Republicans shouldn't be on board with this game of randomly tossing out the "r" word with the wild and reckless abandon the Democrats do. While I do believe sometimes the GOP has to play by the left's "rules" in these things and use their tactics when necessary in order to make a point, in my view the race card should be left on the shelf and only utilized when the situation actually warrants it.  Because when it doesn't, it just victimizes victims of actual racism all over again.

Flashback: Sen. John Kennedy Hilariously Puts UFO Congressional Hearing in Perspective With His Usual Flair