The political newbie and the youngest candidate in the presidential race was trailing on the distant fourth spot with seven per cent of the votes counted…reports Asian Lite News
Indian-American tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy announced that he is dropping out of the 2024 Republican presidential race, and endorsed former US President Donald Trump who won the crucial Iowa caucuses.
The 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur told his supporters on Monday night that he is ending campaign after a dismal finish in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses.
The political newbie and the youngest candidate in the presidential race was trailing on the distant fourth spot with seven per cent of the votes counted.
“As of this moment, we are going to suspend this presidential campaign. Earlier tonight I called Donald Trump to tell him that I congratulate him on his victory, and now going forward, you will have my full endorsement for the presidency,” The Hill reported Ramaswamy as saying.
Trump, America’s twice-impeached former president facing more than 90 criminal charges, emerged triumphant in Iowa, solidifying his position as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.
The Republican frontrunner, who has always praised Ramaswamy as a “smart guy” and a “very intelligent person”, recently slammed the political newcomer as “very sly” and asked voters not get “duped” by his “deceitful campaign tricks”.
Ramaswamy said he is not going to criticise Trump in response to his attack, which he called a “friendly fire”.
Asserting that he is not a “Plan B person”, Ramaswamy has ruled out the possibility of him being the Vice President, saying he would not do well in a number two position in August last year.
The exit of the anti-woke crusader, who launched his campaign bid in February 2023, comes not long after former New Jersey governor Chris Christie announced he was dropping his White House bid.
Huge Gurdon, editor-in-chief of conservative publication Washington Examiner, wrote that every presidential election throws up an “interesting candidate” who is “evidently intelligent, highly unconventional, and less like any of the others than they are like each other”.
And Ramaswamy had become the “interesting candidate” of the 2024 election cycle.
Born to immigrant parents from India, he made millions as a pharmaceutical entrepreneur and wrote a book slamming woke to test the waters for a plunge into politics.
He was clearly the star of the first Republican debate as he forced himself into most of the conversation, which included sharp jabs from Christie, who said he sounded like ChatGPT.
Fellow Indian-American and Republican rival, Nikki Haley, called him a “scum” for bringing up her daughter’s reference in a debate on TikTok.
She also said that Ramaswamy has “no foreign policy experience and it shows”.
The remarks by Jason Miller comes a day after Trump slammed the “very sly” biotech entrepreneur in a blistering social media post on January 13, saying: “a vote for Vivek is a vote for the other side”.
A top aide of former US President Donald Trump has said that voters are likely to rule out Indian-American longshot presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as the Republican frontrunner’s Vice Presidential pick.
The remarks by Jason Miller comes a day after Trump slammed the “very sly” biotech entrepreneur in a blistering social media post on January 13, saying: “a vote for Vivek is a vote for the other side”.
Trump said voters should not get “duped” by Ramaswamy’s “deceitful campaign tricks”, and that he is a threat to MAGA — Make America Great Again.
In a post shared on X on January 13, Ramaswamy said he is not going to criticise Trump in response to his attack, which he called a “friendly fire”.
On Sunday, Miller told The New York Post that voters could “probably” rule out Ramaswamy as the ex-president’s running mate.
“Pretty safe to say it won’t be Vivek,” he said.
Trump, who leads the Republican race despite indictments and civil cases against him, has always praised the political newcomer as a “smart guy” and a “very intelligent person” who has “a lot of talent” and “good energy”.
While being asked on a TV show in September last year whether he was considering a “Vice President Ramaswamy”, Trump said: “Well, I think he’s great. Look, anybody that said, I’m the best president in a generation… So I have to like a guy like that. You know, I can’t get upset with him.”
The former President had however, warned the political newcomer that he was becoming “a little bit controversial”, asking him to “be a little bit careful” with what he says.
Asserting that he is not a “Plan B person”, Ramaswamy had ruled out the possibility of him being the Vice President, saying he would not do well in a number two position in August last year.
While several names are being floated for the second top executive position in the US, Trump said last week that he has already chosen his running mate but has decided not to announce it yet.
In an NBC News interview about two months ago, Trump said he “likes the concept” of a woman as Vice President.
“We’re going to choose the best person,” he said.
IANS had reported earlier that 39-year-old Elise Stefanik, one of Trump’s fiercest allies, fits this bill perfectly and she could end up as his running mate, though her credibility with swing states is still a big question.
The 38-year-old entrepreneur also urged his fellow Republican presidential aspirants — Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley — to do the same “immediately”…reports Asian Lite News
Indian-American presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has pledged to withdraw his name from the Colorado primary ballot unless former President Donald Trump is reinstated.
Ramaswamy’s move comes after Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday barred Trump from running in the state’s presidential primary, ruling he had engaged in “insurrection” on January 6, 2021.
Coming out strongly in support of his Republican presidential rival, Ramaswamy said in a post on X: “This is what an actual attack on democracy looks like: in an un-American, unconstitutional, and unprecedented decision, a cabal of Democrat judges are barring Trump from the ballot in Colorado.
“I pledge to*withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary unless Trump is also allowed to be on the state’s ballot.”
In addition, the 38-year-old entrepreneur also urged his fellow Republican presidential aspirants — Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley — to do the same “immediately”.
He added that their failure in doing so would mean “they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country”.
The apex court cited Trump’s role in the January 6 attack when a mob of supporters invaded the US Congress — at his urging and direction — to prevent lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden as the next President.
The ruling came under Amendment 14 of the US constitution that bars people engaging in insurrection from running for President.
“Having tried every trick in the book to eliminate President Trump from running in this election, the bipartisan Establishment is now deploying a new tactic to bar him from ever holding office again: the 14th Amendment,” Ramaswamy said.
A Trump campaign spokesperson said that an appeal would be filed on Tuesday night.
According to Fox News, disqualification lawsuits relating to Trump’s appearance on the ballot are pending in 13 states, including Texas, Nevada and Wisconsin.
The 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur hopes to keep up his rigorous timetable, hitting 38 events this week….reports Asian Lite News
Indian-American presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy participated in 42 campaign stops last week, more than any other 2024 candidate.
According to the USA Today newspaper, the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur hopes to keep up his rigorous timetable, hitting 38 events this week.
At a campaign stop in Iowa on Friday, Vivek acknowledged that there is a “logistically grueling element” to his schedule, but the energy of the crowds in the state is keeping him motivated.
The Yale Law School graduate with a net worth of about $630 million said the formula that works for him is “W-O-R-K”, and it all stems from a lesson learned from his parents.
“Here’s how you spell luck: W-O-R-K,” Ramaswamy said.
“It’s always been a formula that has worked for me in my life and be it in my academic background, be it as a student, be it in my career, as a businessman and now on this journey,” he told USA Today.
Anson Frericks, who co-founded the company Strive Asset Management with Ramaswamy early last year, told USA TODAY there’s no time for rest in the latter’s schedule.
“There’s no one that I’ve ever met that gets up in the morning, works out while he’s taking phone calls,” said Frericks, who’s known Ramaswamy since high school.
Ramaswamy worked 16 hours per day at Strive, Frericks said, and that work ethic culture “permeated” throughout the organisation.
He is running fourth nationally in the aggregation of polls by RealClear Politics, which shows him with five per cent support in Republican primaries.
In the New Hampshire state primary, RealClear Politics places him fifth with seven per cent.
On January 23, that state will be the second to hold intraparty elections for the Republican Party nomination, which can enable it — and Iowa, which will be the first on January 15 — to influence the primaries that follow in determining who stays on in the race where former President Donald Trump holds an overwhelming lead.
“I’m confident that’s going to be the right way to get elected — not being insulated from the people who are representing, but in many ways, being responsive to the people we’re representing,” he told USA Today.
“I’d rather spend time with these caucusgoers and Pizza Ranches across the state, rather than being a cloistered mega donor retreat,” he added.
The Yale Law School graduate with a net worth of about $630 million said the formula that works for him is “W-O-R-K”, and it all stems from a lesson learned from his parents…reports Asian Lite News
Indian-American presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy participated in 42 campaign stops last week, more than any other 2024 candidate.
According to the USA Today newspaper, the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur hopes to keep up his rigorous timetable, hitting 38 events this week.
At a campaign stop in Iowa on Friday, Vivek acknowledged that there is a “logistically grueling element” to his schedule, but the energy of the crowds in the state is keeping him motivated.
The Yale Law School graduate with a net worth of about $630 million said the formula that works for him is “W-O-R-K”, and it all stems from a lesson learned from his parents.
“Here’s how you spell luck: W-O-R-K,” Ramaswamy said.
“It’s always been a formula that has worked for me in my life and be it in my academic background, be it as a student, be it in my career, as a businessman and now on this journey,” he told USA Today.
Anson Frericks, who co-founded the company Strive Asset Management with Ramaswamy early last year, told USA TODAY there’s no time for rest in the latter’s schedule.
“There’s no one that I’ve ever met that gets up in the morning, works out while he’s taking phone calls,” said Frericks, who’s known Ramaswamy since high school.
Ramaswamy worked 16 hours per day at Strive, Frericks said, and that work ethic culture “permeated” throughout the organisation.
He is running fourth nationally in the aggregation of polls by RealClear Politics, which shows him with five per cent support in Republican primaries.
In the New Hampshire state primary, RealClear Politics places him fifth with seven per cent.
On January 23, that state will be the second to hold intraparty elections for the Republican Party nomination, which can enable it — and Iowa, which will be the first on January 15 — to influence the primaries that follow in determining who stays on in the race where former President Donald Trump holds an overwhelming lead.
“I’m confident that’s going to be the right way to get elected — not being insulated from the people who are representing, but in many ways, being responsive to the people we’re representing,” he told USA Today.
“I’d rather spend time with these caucusgoers and Pizza Ranches across the state, rather than being a cloistered mega donor retreat,” he added.
Ramaswamy invoked the 1948 holocaust, saying that the Arab countries could take Palestinians as Israel took Jews who were thrown out of 22 countries….reports Asian Lite News
Entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called on Israel to use all the powers at its disposal to eliminate Hamas from the region and advocated for Israeli actions against Hamas.
“Now is the moment for Israel to return to its founding premise: the Jewish State has an absolute right to exist. A Divine gift, gifted to a Divine nation, charged with a Divine purpose. Israel has an absolute and unequivocal right and responsibility to defend itself to the fullest, applying the only language its adversaries understand: the language of force,” he said.
It’s time for America to return to our founding vision & for Israel to return to its own. From a U.S. standpoint, here’s the right path forward:
– Get American hostages out of Hamas’ hands immediately, via negotiation or otherwise.
Addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition, Ramaswamy invoked the 1948 holocaust, saying that the Arab countries could take Palestinians as Israel took Jews who were thrown out of 22 countries.
“If Israel wants to at long last abandon the myth of a two-state solution, Israel should go ahead and abandon a 2-state solution. The rest of the Arab World can absorb Palestinians just as the Jews absorbed their people thrown out of 22 countries since 1948. The Islamic World cannot continue to condone the slaughtering of Jews while continuing to disown the Palestinians. That’s the hard truth that nobody else in either political party is willing to speak out loud to the Arab world. I will,” he said.
“I have full confidence that if left unrestrained, the IDF will be able to get the job of defending Israel done. I’ll personally hope for a successful in-and-out operation, and would love nothing more than for the IDF to put the heads of the top 100 Hamas leaders on stakes and line them up on the Israel-Gaza border as a sign that October 7, 2023 will never happen again, and then use all of its saved resources to rebuild its border defences for the future,” he added.
Meanwhile, The Israel Defence Force (IDF) on Sunday said that they are heading towards a new phase of the war against Hamas and will launch an assault from land, sea and air in Gaza.
“The Israel Defence Forces is expanding its operations. We are moving to the next phase of our war against Hamas, Gaza from the air, land and Sea. On October 7, the Hamas committed a crime against humanity. Israel is in a war it did not start and it did not seek. Hamas is attacking Israeli civilians while firing from among dozens of civilians. These are both war crimes,” he said.
In a video message, IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari reiterated that the Hamas are using civilians to protect themselves from Israeli forces and called for the civilians to move towards the south of Gaza.
He said, “Our fight is with Hamas, not with the people of Gaza. Hamas uses the people of Gaza as human shields by embedding itself among them in schools, masks and hospitals. As we have revealed.” (ANI)
Calling the 47-year-old California congressman a “solid dude”, Ramaswamy, 38, responded by saying that he’d be glad to have a discussion…reports Asian Lite News
Fresh out of the second Republican primary debate, presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is set to debate with Democratic congressman and fellow Indian-American Ro Khanna on race, identity, and the American dream.
Khanna took up Ramaswamy’s offer of debate with “a smart Democrat who’s willing”, and wrote to him on X: “The University of Chicago Institute of Politics wants to have a civil discourse with the two of us on race, identity, and the American dream”.
“I accepted. I assume, as a speech advocate, you’re game @VivekGRamaswamy?” Khanna posted this week.
Calling the 47-year-old California congressman a “solid dude”, Ramaswamy, 38, responded by saying that he’d be glad to have a discussion.
“You’re a solid dude with whom I disagree on a lot, and I’d be glad to have a discussion at some point, just need to balance it in the context of campaign priorities. If you are willing to do it in New Hampshire, I’m game,” the anti-woke crusader wrote on X.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the debate has set a trend of GOP candidates debating Democratic politicians who aren’t currently running for the White House but are mulling a 2028 run.
The agreement between the two Indian-Americans came after Ramaswamy excoriated the Republican National Committee (RNC) on X for preventing “open debate” between him and fellow candidate Chris Christie in the September 27 debate.
When X owner Elon Musk suggested the two debate live on the platform, Ramaswamy said on October 4 that they would be unable to do so because of RNC rules, but would “go for it with a smart Democrat who’s willing”.
Ramaswamy said that the debate was supposed to be between himself and independent presidential candidate Cornel West, who pulled out.
Both Ramaswamy and Khanna hold different views on a number of key issues in the US — climate change, gun reforms, and abortion rights.
According to The New York Times, there is “a huge ideological gap” between the two Indian Americans.
Khanna is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Ramaswamy, “has espoused some of the most far-right positions in the Republican presidential field”, The Times noted.
In a display of bipartisan spirit last month, Ramaswamy backed Khanna’s five-point plan to reform the US Congress by agreeing to support the fight against corruption in government and removal of substantial financial influence from politics.
Khanna was quick to acknowledge the biotech entrepreneur’s support, saying that he hopes to build a “cohesive, just, and multiracial America” with a new generation in the field of politics.
In July this year, Khanna came out in support of Ramaswamy after a televangelist targeted his Hindu faith and asked citizens not to vote for him.
Polls following the first GOP debate showed that 28 per cent of the 504 respondents said that Ramaswamy performed the best…reports Asian Lite News
Responding to polls that show his unfavourability rising, Indian-American Republican presidential aspirant Vivek Ramaswamy has said that people are annoyed by a 38-year-old’s rise, believing that he is too young to be the US president
The remarks came after a Fox News Poll showed that unfavorable views of Ramaswamy have risen 12 per cent since August, just after he took the center stage at the maiden Republican presidential debate where rivals Chris Christie and Nikki Haley gave him a tough fight.
Appearing on the ‘Fox News Sunday’, he told host Shannon Bream, “We have been taking intense criticism, Shannon, over the last several weeks since I performed well on that second debate, and this is part of the process,” Ramaswamy said. “So I invite the open debate.”
“The reality is many people are annoyed by my rise and believe that a 38-year-old is too young to be US president,” he added.
Citing the case of the third president of the US, Ramaswamy said “Thomas Jefferson was 33-years-old when he wrote the US Declaration of Independence. He also invented the swivel chair while he was at it, by the way”.
While former president Donald Trump maintains the lead in a crowded GOP field, Ramaswamy occupies the third spot behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the majority of polls.
Polls following the first GOP debate showed that 28 per cent of the 504 respondents said that Ramaswamy performed the best.
Post debate, a confident Ramaswamy told reporters that only two candidates would be left in the race, which would be him and Trump.
With a worth of more than $950 million, Ramaswamy raised more than $450,000, with an average donation of $38, in the first hour after the debate.
In addition, he was the most Google-searched Republican candidate, followed by rival Nikki Haley, according to Fox News.
With a commentator saying Americans find Ramaswamy “annoying”, the biotech entrepreneur insists his campaign is on a path to success
“We came from 0.0 per cent to where we are now,” he told Fox News. “I think we’re on track to win this election”.
Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley flamboyantly presented themselves as outsiders, but in different ways, a report by Arul Louis
Two Indian Americans seeking the Republican Party’s presidential nomination as outsiders in their own ways created high drama, arms stretched and fingers wagging angrily at each other, trading personal insults.
Both flamboyantly presented themselves as outsiders, but in different ways.
The 38-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy revelled in his status as “not a politician”, but “an entrepreneur”, and as the youngest on the stage on Wednesday in Milwaukee, firmly making him an outsider amid the veteran politicians older than him.
Modelling himself on former President Donald Trump, Ramaswamy hurled insults at the political veterans joining him on a seemingly impossible mission to wrest the lead for the party’s nomination from Trump.
He insulted them as puppets of interest groups who were parroting memorised lines fed to them and beholden to SuperPACs (Political Action Committees) that help fund their campaigns.
(Unlike them, the multi-millionaire doesn’t need SuperPAC money)
And smilingly he declared that the debate was going to be a fun ride – a departure from Trump’s sour demeanour.
Railing against the radical left & reading “Woke, Inc.” quotes from your teleprompter is easy. The harder part is to take a stand on where we disagree, independent of mega-donor influence. It was an honor to stand center stage last night & share my vision with the American people… pic.twitter.com/5fQmvmfj0P
He garnered the second-most talking time on the debate after former Vice President Mike Pence, according to a New York Times tally, boosting his visibility,
Nikki Haley, 51, a former South Carolina Governor, the first Indian-American to serve on the US cabinet when she was the UN permanent representative — and the only woman on the stage — pitched herself as the outsider to both the Republican Party establishment and the mainstream driven by former President Trump.
She dared condemn Trump as “the most disliked politician in all of America” and denounced fellow Republicans as profligates who added $8 trillion to the national deficit.
In contrast to Ramaswamy, she presented herself as a candidate of maturity and moderation – and mostly calmness, except in the confrontation with him.
In a high-tension moment, the man from a Tamil family from Palakkad in Kerala and the woman from a Sikh family from Punjab shouted down each other with angry gestures after Ramaswamy’s controversial statements about cutting aid to Ukraine and Israel.
“You have no foreign policy experience and it shows,” Haley shouted at him.
He, in turn, accused her of seeking a directorship on the boards of defence manufacturers like Lockheed Martin.
“You want to go and defund Israel,” she said, and he retorted, “Nikki, you have been pushing this lie all week long.”
When former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Ramaswamy were locked in a dispute over climate change, Haley interjected, “This is exactly why Margaret Thatcher said, ‘If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman’.”
You can’t fix Washington’s spending crisis with the same people who created the crisis to begin with. pic.twitter.com/Nm4WC3cOyX
One of the two debate moderators, Fox News host Martha MacCallum, needled Haley pointing out that Ramaswamy outperformed her in polls.
But she didn’t take the bait.
(According to polls aggregation by RealClear Politics, on the eve of the debate, Ramaswamy at 7.2 per cent had nearly more than double of Haley’s support of 3.2 per cent)
Ann Coulter, a right-wing extremist media flame-thrower, tweeted ignorantly about their face-off: “Nikki and Vivek are involved in some Hindu business, it seems. Not our fight.”
Haley was never a Hindu; born a Sikh, she converted to her husband’s Methodist Christian sect.
Ramaswamy follows a Hinduism based on pluralism and respect for all religions like that enunciated by his illustrious namesake, Swami Vivekanananda.
At the end of the day, Ramaswamy, who has been following Trump’s 2016 playbook of insults and bravado, emerged as his staunchest supporter, gaining his praise in a social media tweet as the debate’s winner and the cheers of his supporters at the debate venue.
And Hailey was declared the “adult in the room” by moderates for her measured stands on controversial issues like abortion and her denouncement of Trump amid the raucous snipings.
The Wall Street Journal’s conservative columnist Kimberly Stassel declared her and former Vice President Pence as “Adults on the GOP debate stage”.
The early polls after the debate were mixed: Insider Advantage poll had Haley having her best showing so far at 11 per cent and Ramaswamy at 7 per cent, while Morning Consult had him moving up to 11 per cent, with Haley at 3 per cent.
The only time India figured in the two-hour debate was when Haley rebutted Ramaswamy’s claim that climate change was a “hoax”, but said that to protect the environment, “we need to start telling China and India that they have to lower their emissions” (even though an Indian’s greenhouse gas emissions are about an eighth of an American’s).
Without mentioning his parent’s motherland, Ramaswamy said, “My parents came to this country with no money 40 years ago.”
Nevertheless, it was a significant moment for Indian-Americans seeing two of their own on the debate stage, and never mind that 70 per cent of them support the Democratic Party, according to a 2022 survey by the Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote) and two other groups.
(According to a 2020 study by two Indian-American academics, 58.8 Indian-Americans said they would vote for a fellow ethnic regardless of party affiliation)
While it’s a longshot for either of the two Republican Indian-Americans to make it to the ballot, as things stand now, Kamala Harris of partial Indian descent is slated to be the Democrat’s Vice President candidate again.
Even their snipings at each other only showed Haley’s and Ramaswamy’s independent way of thinking and their different perspectives beyond their mutual ethnicities, the identity politics that they disdain.
And for the Republican Party often called racist or broad-brushed as anti-immigrant (although it is only against illegal immigration), the party had two Indian-Americans elected as Governors, Haley in South Carolina and Bobby Jindal in Louisiana, both southern states parodied as racist.
Even though there is no Indian-American Republican in the Congress now, Jindal was elected to the House of Representatives in 2004, ending a 41-year gap since Dalip Singh Saund, a Democrat, had served there.
While a two-term Governor, Jindal made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination in 2016 without even making to the main debate platform.
Trump imperiously boycotted the debate, but Ramaswamy was his stand-in and, therefore, the punching bag.
But unlike Trump, Ramaswamy took it in his stride, smiling and sometimes sniggering, taunting his elders, “We’re just going to have some fun.”
Christie said Ramaswamy sounded like “Chat-GPT”, the artificial intelligence generator of texts.
I was the only one on stage last night not bought & paid for by Super PACs so I can speak freely. Here’s the TRUTH: the climate disaster death rate has *declined* by 98% over the last century, even as carbon emissions have risen. The average person is 50X less likely to die of a… pic.twitter.com/df5176pB2N
Borrowing from former Democrat President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign line, Ramaswamy began introducing himself joking, “Who the heck is this skinny guy with a funny last name …?”
Christie pounced on him for that, saying “I’m afraid we’re dealing with the same type of amateur.”
Ramaswamy taunted him, asking him for a “hug” like he had given Obama that could help his election.
(During his visit to New Jersey with promises of aid after a 2012 storm and before the election, Obama had put his arm on Christie’s shoulder and the Governor’s detractors claimed it to be a “hug” that helped the President’s re-election)
Pence called Ramaswamy “a rookie” and turning on his outsider status, said, “Now, it’s not the time for on-the-job training… we don’t need to bring in people without experience.”
