Washington, DC – Vivek Ramaswamy desires to be the following Donald Trump: an outsider who will tackle the US political institution, win the presidency and push a hard-right agenda from the Oval Workplace.
“I’m extra much like Trump in 2015 than Trump as we speak is to Trump in 2015,” Ramaswamy mentioned of the previous president in an interview this month with British actor and podcast host Russell Model.
Model replied, jokingly: “Trumper than Trump, trumping Trump on Trumpness.”
Two weeks later, Ramaswamy would ship a Trump-like efficiency on the first Republican debate of the 2024 presidential election season – admonishing opponents, relishing assaults and advancing unorthodox coverage proposals.
And political pundits and media commentators throughout the nation took discover: When the customary post-debate analyses rolled out within the US media after the occasion on Wednesday, Ramaswamy was extensively touted because the evening’s winner.
“Ramaswamy, who actually dominated plenty of the dialogue and plenty of the vitriol – it was truly an excellent evening for him,” John Feehery, a Republican pundit, informed Al Jazeera in a tv interview after the talk.
However for all of the reward he has obtained, Ramaswamy is pushing quite a few fringe concepts that liberals describe as harmful, together with local weather change denialism and the prospect of navy operations towards drug sellers in Mexico.
Ramaswamy stays far behind Trump in the Republican nomination race, in response to latest polls, however his rise highlights the celebration’s willingness to assist candidates with unconventional, hardline concepts – and no earlier expertise in politics.
Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman who’s now an outspoken critic of the celebration, mentioned in a social media submit on Friday that the Republican base is looking for a “bully” or an “authoritarian” candidate.
“That’s Trump. If not Trump, the one two different individuals on that stage the opposite evening who match that job description are [Florida Governor Ron] DeSantis & Ramaswamy. No person else.”
Who’s Vivek Ramaswamy?
The son of Indian immigrants to the US, Ramaswamy, 38, made hundreds of thousands in prescription drugs and biotech earlier than authoring a e book in 2021 titled Woke, Inc, which put him on the map of right-wing politics.
Within the e book, he raged towards the push for sustainable and equitable enterprise insurance policies, often known as environmental, social and company governance, or ESG.
From there, the Ohio-born and -raised Ramaswamy started showing on right-wing media, together with Fox Information, the place he would admonish liberals’ concentrate on id politics. His rhetoric additionally seized on conservatives’ anger towards college affirmative motion insurance policies, during which race is a consider admissions, that the Supreme Court docket banned in June.
Ramaswamy has promoted the concept of race-blind “meritocracy” in opposition to insurance policies geared toward bolstering range. “Reverse racism is racism,” he usually says.
Regardless of his media appearances, few individuals would have recognised Ramaswamy’s identify when he launched his marketing campaign for the White Home this 12 months.
Within the span of some months, nonetheless, he went from a largely unknown determine on the nationwide stage to competing with DeSantis for second place in opinion polls within the Republican presidential contest.
“To many Individuals, the concept of an outsider having the ability to right what’s unsuitable in Washington may be very interesting, significantly – particularly for Republicans – if that outsider is a profitable businessperson,” mentioned Todd Belt, professor and political administration programme director at George Washington College.
“And I feel that his youth and vitality is interesting to individuals.”
What are his insurance policies?
Ramaswamy has poured $15m of his personal cash into his marketing campaign, in response to federal election data.
A assured orator who almost all the time seems to be smiling, the daddy of two emphasises religion, household and patriotism as the reply to the perceived ills of society. Though he’s Hindu, he usually stresses “Judeo-Christian values”.
The candidate studied biology at Harvard College and holds a level from Yale Legislation Faculty. Ramaswamy additionally has introduced himself as a uniting candidate attempting to take the Republican Celebration from merely expressing grievances to arising with options.
Regardless of the vigour of his supply, a lot of Ramaswamy’s concepts are impractical – if not outlandish – and go properly past the powers of the presidency, his critics say.
For instance, he has known as for elevating the voting age from 18 to 25 until younger individuals move a civics examination or fulfil a “nationwide service requirement” by serving within the navy or as emergency responders. However that may require a constitutional modification and is unlikely.
He additionally has mentioned he would remove the Division of Training and the Inner Income Service, the US tax company, and would shut down the FBI – the spine of federal legislation enforcement within the US – and have its brokers absorbed into different companies. That, too, could be a tall order.
And at a time when the local weather disaster is fuelling wildfires and excessive climate the world over, he’s operating on a pro-fossil gas platform.
“Drill, frack & burn coal: abandon the local weather cult & unshackle nuclear vitality,” his marketing campaign web site says. He went even additional on the debate on Wednesday, saying, “The local weather change agenda is a hoax.”
‘Radical’ local weather coverage
Belt known as Ramaswamy’s response to local weather change stunning. “That simply actually confirmed an incredible quantity of confusion of the problem and a extremely radical coverage agenda,” he mentioned.
But on the debate in Wisconsin, the viewers constantly cheered for Ramaswamy, particularly as he praised Trump and attacked the previous president’s critics – specifically ex-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
“Vivek Ramaswamy received tonight’s debate and will get an excellent debate bounce within the polls. He was articulate, comfy, smiling, coherent, succinct and oozing mind all through,” conservative journalist David Brody wrote in a social media submit.
However in response to Belt, one of many causes Ramaswamy’s debate efficiency drew a lot consideration could also be due partly to his means to profit from the occasion’s format to maximise his air time. Moderators supplied a 30-second rebuttal to candidates who had been singled out by others.
“He was saying issues that frankly exhibited a lack of awareness of how the federal government works and the powers of the presidency,” Belt mentioned.
“The opposite candidates had been attempting to show his ignorance and, in doing so, used his identify and ended up giving him extra time.”
International coverage
Ramaswamy was on the centre of essentially the most contentious second of the talk when he mentioned he wouldn’t ship extra funds to Ukraine if elected president.
The US has supplied billions of {dollars} in navy and humanitarian help to Ukraine since Russia invaded the nation final 12 months. However Ramaswamy mentioned that coverage is “disastrous”, arguing that the US ought to concentrate on defending its personal southern border.
He went on to hit out at Christie and former Vice President Mike Pence, each of whom have visited Ukraine and met its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“I discover it offensive that we have now skilled politicians who will make a pilgrimage to Kyiv, to their pope, Zelenskyy, with out doing the identical for the individuals in Maui or the south aspect of Chicago,” he mentioned.
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley hit again, accusing Ramaswamy of favouring Russian President Vladimir Putin – whom she known as “a assassin” – over a US ally.
TRUTH.
1. God is actual.
2. There are two genders.
3. Human flourishing requires fossil fuels.
4. Reverse racism is racism.
5. An open border is not any border.
6. Dad and mom decide the training of their kids.
7. The nuclear household is the best type of governance identified to… pic.twitter.com/MTjhqquwl4— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) August 24, 2023
Whereas Republicans in Congress have overwhelmingly supported support to Ukraine, the celebration’s supporters are divided on the problem. So though Ramaswamy was within the minority on the talk stage, his stance on the battle will enchantment to some voters.
His marketing campaign informed The Related Press information company on Thursday that he raised $450,000 in largely small donations within the hours after the talk.
Nonetheless, his fundraising stays far behind Trump and DeSantis. The Florida governor’s marketing campaign raised $1m within the 24 hours following the talk, ABC Information reported on Friday.
And the actual fact stays that Ramaswamy is unlikely to loosen Trump’s grip on the Republican nomination, even when the talk propelled his candidacy into the highlight for now.
“Ramaswamy is having his second,” Belt mentioned.
