that is his way to avoid it and just pivot to his own message. visitic ramaswamy reasserted his pledge to pardon donald trump and even after this. he also was out and about today with a little bit of bravado about his -- how he sees his relationship with trump going forward. give a listen. >> i expect president trump to serve as one of my most meaningful -- most meaningful adviser and mentor when i'm in the white house. >> now, i don't know if donald trump is really up for the job of being someone's adviser or mentor in the white house. you heard donald trump responded to the debate performance this week by saying, this guy was so nice to me, i'm not sure he's running against me. and he's trying to position himself as an alternate version to trump. in case trump collapses, rama