The ‘skinny man with a humorous identify’ is proclaiming himself a Trump fan and MAGA follower now, however that’s a really current about-face
As many Individuals at the moment are familiarizing themselves with Vivek Ramaswamy, a smooth-talking Republican candidate who’s rapidly climbing within the polls, it could be clever to learn the superb print on this novice first.
Through the first debate of the Republican primaries on August 23, Google search was reportedly on fireplace as tens of millions of Individuals wished to be taught extra in regards to the articulate younger man named who appeared to take nice enjoyment of verbally jousting along with his fellow conservatives, amongst whom had been former vp Mike Pence, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Ramaswamy started his efficiency by making an attempt to resolve the thriller of his identification when he instructed the meeting, “So first let me simply deal with a query that’s on all people’s thoughts at residence tonight: ‘Who the heck is that this skinny man with a humorous final identify and what the heck is he doing in the course of this debate stage?’”
Chris Christie, one of many seven veteran politicians on stage, was not fooled as he instantly recalled the time when two-term Democratic President Barack Obama made his political debut uttering almost the exact same line.
“The final one who stood up right here saying, ‘What’s a thin man with an odd final identify doing up right here?’ was Barack Obama, and I’m afraid we’re coping with the identical kind of beginner standing on the stage tonight,” Christie stated.
Because it turned out, Christie was proper. In 2004, Obama was invited to ship the keynote deal with on the Democratic Nationwide Conference in Boston, the place he spoke about “the hope of a thin child with a humorous identify who believes that America has a spot for him too.” For the reason that speech is extensively believed to have been Obama’s political breakout second, many expressed bewilderment that Ramaswamy would plagiarize a line from a well-known politician – and a Democrat, as well – that many individuals would rapidly keep in mind.
But Ramaswamy stored his cool and turned the tables on Christie by saying, “give me a hug identical to you probably did Obama, and also you’ll assist elect me identical to you helped Obama, too.” The reference was to a second in 2012 within the wake of Hurricane Sandy when then-New Jersey Governor Christie was seen assembly then-President Obama on the tarmac and placing his arm across the Democratic chief, a gesture that some critics say helped Obama seal the presidency for a second time period.
So who’s the thin man with a funny-sounding identify and what are his political views? Vivek (rhymes with ‘cake’, he says) Ramaswamy, 38, is a second-generation immigrant from India who has turn out to be a multi-millionaire within the pharmaceutical and monetary sectors. He formally entered the US presidential race in February by lamenting what he referred to as a “nationwide identification disaster” afflicting the nation because of “woke madness.” He asserts the motion is promoted by a left-wing ideology that has substituted “religion, patriotism and onerous work” with “new secular religions” like “climatism,” gender ideology and important race research.
Along with supporting most of the speaking factors present in Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Nice Once more) platform, Ramaswamy swore his loyalty to the legally embattled forty fifth president when he gratuitously pronounced in the course of the primaries, “Let’s simply communicate the reality, okay? President Trump, I consider, was one of the best president of the twenty first century. It’s a truth.”
The remark, which attracted no scarcity of low-cost applause, got here off as quite stiff and surprising contemplating that Trump remains to be very a lot within the presidential race, regardless of going through a number of prison prices. Even stranger is that Ramaswamy’s assist for Trump appears to alter with the authorized seasons.
On August 1, federal prosecutors introduced their 45-page indictment towards Trump, alleging that he pressed election officers to reject voting ends in their states with a purpose to overturn the election. Ramaswamy blasted the newest spherical of indictments concentrating on the Republican Get together’s high candidate, writing on X (previously Twitter): “Donald Trump isn’t the reason for what occurred on Jan 6. The true trigger was systematic & pervasive censorship of residents within the 12 months main as much as it. Should you inform folks they will’t communicate, that’s after they scream.”
But evaluate that to what Ramaswamy needed to say about Trump’s response to the January 6 rebel/protest/rebel/riot/take your decide simply days after the Capitol constructing was breached by lots of of Orange Man supporters.
“What Trump did final week was unsuitable. Downright abhorrent. Plain and easy.”
Nonetheless, that’s nothing in comparison with what the pharmaceutical mogul needed to say about Trump in his 2022 e-book, ‘Nation of Victims’, which sounds as if it had been penned by probably the most progressive leftist within the Democratic Get together.
“It was a darkish day for democracy. The loser of the final election refused to concede the race, claimed the election was stolen, raised lots of of tens of millions of {dollars} from loyal supporters, and is contemplating working for govt workplace once more.
I’m referring, after all, to Donald Trump.”
Whereas Ramaswamy is definitely not the primary politician to regulate his sails based on the shifting political winds, his change of tune about Trump when it grew to become clear he was nonetheless the frontrunner within the 2024 race, prison prices however, was fairly outstanding. But it didn’t alienate him from the Republican base, whereas Trump, who wants all the chums he can get at this level, has declared himself a fan of the fawning upstart.
“This reply gave Vivek Ramaswamy an enormous WIN within the debate due to a factor referred to as TRUTH,” Trump wrote in a Reality Social put up. “Thanks Vivek!”
Questions in regards to the ‘skinny man with the funny-sounding identify,’ nevertheless, don’t finish there. In 2011, Ramaswamy accepted a $90,000 scholarship from the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Individuals, which was based by Daisy and Paul Soros, the now-deceased older brother of billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros.
Persons are criticizing the younger Republican upstart not due to the award’s familial connection to the controversial George Soros, however as a result of he severely understated his monetary place on the time, suggesting he wanted the scholarship to afford tuition at Yale Regulation College. Because it turned out that was not true.
“There was a separate scholarship that I received on the age of 24-25, after I was going to legislation faculty … after I didn’t have the cash and it was a benefit scholarship that lots of of youngsters win, that was partially funded, not by George Soros, however by Paul Soros a relative, his brother,” Ramaswamy stated.
In 2011, the identical 12 months he accepted the scholarship, Ramaswamy reported $2,252,209 in complete earnings, based on his tax returns, which he launched in June. He reported a complete of $1,173,690 in earnings within the three years prior. In different phrases, Ramaswamy was a millionaire when he accepted the $90,000 award, which may have been introduced to a different one who actually wanted it.
In the meantime, different individuals are asking if America actually wants a pharmaceutical govt within the White Home after the nation simply handed by lengthy months of lockdowns, compelled mask-wearing, and a compulsory vaccine regime. As soon as once more, Ramaswamy’s monitor report on this concern leaves so much to be desired.
Ramaswamy, the primary millennial to hunt the presidency, has painstakingly portrayed himself as an anti-government libertarian. But his monitor report, at the least when it got here to carrying a masks and getting vaccinated in the course of the pandemic, suggests simply the alternative.
Again in April 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci famously backpedaled from his earlier stance that Individuals may train private discretion when deciding to put on a masks, a place that completely displays libertarian considering. As an alternative, he suggested carrying face masks as a approach to assist cease the unfold of Covid-19. Now if Ramaswamy had been actually against the imposition of presidency dictate in folks’s lives, he would have routinely challenged Fauci’s volte-face on masks carrying, insisting that folks use their very own private discretion. Relatively, he instantly hopped on the bandwagon, tweeting on July 8, 2020, “Sporting a masks = private accountability. It’s puzzling when conservatives oppose it.”
The identical factor occurred when the Biden administration rolled out its enforced vaccine initiative when tens of millions of individuals had been compelled to both take the shot or lose their jobs. Ramaswamy as soon as once more swam with the sharks.
In an op-ed within the Wall Avenue Journal, dated January 10, 2022, he wrote: “An important step in preventing the Covid-19 pandemic was the distribution of vaccines.” Earlier than that, he bent a knee to the Democratic Get together when he tweeted, “Biden says all adults will likely be vaccine-eligible by Could 1. That’s excellent news. Give credit score the place due.”
The purpose right here just isn’t whether or not it was proper or unsuitable to make mask-wearing and vaccinations necessary. The purpose is that Ramaswamy fully misrepresented himself by saying that he was a libertarian, when clearly he isn’t. That misidentification may have critical penalties down the street if and when the subsequent pandemic breaks out and politicians try and exert extra management over the lives, in addition to the companies, of their constituents. Furthermore, for somebody who’s so terrified of presidency, how is it that Ramaswamy’s spinoff firm Datavant is collaborating with the federal government on the anti-Covid entrance?
All of this means that Ramaswamy was not unsuitable to check himself in passing to Obama, the Democratic chief who many Individuals, particularly among the many black neighborhood, think about to have been a vastly ineffective chief. Ramaswamy may become the Republican Get together’s Barack Obama if conservative voters fail to grasp he isn’t the anti-government superhero he’s pretending to be. And with Covid charges ticking upwards once more (which some wits have dubbed the ‘election variant’), and the grungy masks coming again in style, the American folks might quickly uncover that smooth-talking Vivek Ramaswamy is only a skinny pharmaceutical govt with a humorous sounding identify who will rigorously promote large enterprise and invasive authorities over civil rights and freedom each time the chance arises.
The statements, views and opinions expressed on this column are solely these of the writer and don’t essentially characterize these of RT.
