Vivek Ramaswamy is a performer, not a presidential candidate
Zachary Faria
Video Embed
When Vivek Ramaswamy entered the GOP presidential primary, he seemed like an empty-suit candidate who would pander to Republicans while trying to become some sort of right-wing influencer.
Now, over five months after his campaign launch, it has been made clear that he is exactly that.
RON DESANTIS ACKNOWLEDGES TRUMP’S 2020 ELECTION DEFEAT: ‘OF COURSE HE LOST’
Ramaswamy’s portrayal of a 2024 Republican candidate contradicts not just the positions he held one year ago but positions he held just two months ago. On June 19, Ramaswamy celebrated Juneteenth and called for it to be “a celebration of the American Dream itself.” In his latest act of shameless pandering to what he thinks GOP voters want to hear, he called it a “useless” holiday and suggested it be canceled.
This is just one in a list of things Ramaswamy has flipped on or wants GOP voters to forget. In September 2022, Ramaswamy described the GOP’s embrace of former President Donald Trump’s election conspiracy theories as “The Grand Old Party of Crybabies,” condemned the “victimhood narrative” and said, “It’s easy to be a sore loser.” He also praised former Vice President Mike Pence for refusing to go along with Trump’s narrative. Now, Ramaswamy can’t even say he would do the same thing in Pence’s position.
Ramaswamy has paid to have his Wikipedia page altered, which resulted in the removal of mentions of his time on Ohio’s COVID-19 Response Team as well the postgraduate fellowship he received through the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. (Paul Soros is the brother of Democratic megadonor George Soros). He’s thrown a bone to 9/11 truthers. He’s repeatedly called for a “Declaration of Independence” from China while downplaying his past business ties with the country.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Combine this with his shouting about how he demanded other presidential candidates line up behind him and promise to pardon Trump, and what Ramaswamy is doing is clear. He is running as a caricature of what he thinks Republicans want in a candidate, his own very recent history be damned. He is a charlatan, a snake-oil salesman who wants praise and a right-wing audience while running a campaign that could never beat Trump, because it is simply a low-rent version of a Trump campaign.
Vivek Ramaswamy is running a publicity campaign, not a winning campaign. He is running to be a mainstay in right-wing media, and he thinks that doing so means regularly contradicting himself as he shamelessly panders to right-wing audiences he thinks will eat it up. Given his approval among Republicans (which is not translating to polling in the primary), he would be right, because a large chunk of Republicans love performative conservatism more than actual winners.