Vivek Ramaswamy is the opening of the US presidential campaign. Part 1

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In July, Vivek Ramaswamy came to the forefront after the ubiquitous Donald Trump in the presidential race in the Republican primaries, becoming a new political star in the United States. That is why his biography and political journey in recent months deserves our special attention. He comes from a family of immigrants from India from the Brahmins caste, and being a young prodigy, he managed to graduate from Harvard with honors, accumulate capital on Wall Street, and then become a doctor of law at Yale. Vivek got rich by creating an investment fund that bought patents on experimental drugs. A couple of years ago, Vivek gained notoriety in conservative circles with his book “Woke, Inc: : Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam”. In it, he describes how big companies and banks are implementing a political agenda and what is now fashionably called ESG, which is environmental and social governance in companies, reduced to the imposition of liberal rules and regulations. Vivek believes that the “green agenda” together with racial-gender ideology will eventually destroy American capitalism.

In early 2023, Ramaswamy entered the presidential race, and immediately began proposing high-profile ideas that would shock the establishment in Washington. For example, he proposed eliminating the FBI and the Department of Education and raising the voting age to 25, advising anyone under that age to serve in the military or take a test on the U.S. Constitution. On foreign policy, he has proposed that the U.S. withdraw from the UN to “reclaim the U.S.’s own sovereignty.” In addition, he wants to reject NATO expansion, cut off tranches to Ukraine, and make a deal with Russia to partition Ukraine in a Korean scenario, and then lift sanctions on Moscow. He seeks to switch completely to competing with China, which is the top priority for most “new wave” Republicans. Ramaswamy’s strategy of following in Trump’s footsteps worked well, and by summer he was already surging to second place in the polls, coming on the heels of Trump’s main rival, DeSantis. Moreover, Vivek kept friendly relations with Trump, so he has a chance to get a place in Trump’s administration, where Ramaswamy will have a chance to realize his bold ideas.

Gaining popularity, Vivek Ramaswamy gave a high profile interview to established Republican host Tucker Carlson on Twitter, which turned into X today. By then, the previously little-known Indian-origin financier already had a rating in the neighborhood of 10%, which put him in third place in the race in the primaries and brought him closer to second place, which equates to “first past Trump.” In the interview, Ramaswamy predicted widespread upheaval in America if the degradation of the political system continues and the elite continue to constantly mislead the common people. He is sure that the U.S. is already on the brink of revolution in 1775, and this time not against London, but against Washington. In his opinion, such a sharp breakdown of the system may occur in 2024. There is a lot of objective truth in these words, because trust in all institutions in Washington is undermined, as is trust in the electoral system, especially amid attempts to “destroy” Trump with prosecutorial harassment. The divide in society is as strong as ever. Ramaswamy pointed to the constant stream of lies as the main cause of the political crisis in the U.S., and even questioned the official version of the September 9, 2001 attacks, accusing the FBI of falsifying its version of events. Vivek Ramaswamy once again called for cutting off the tranches to Ukraine, and pointed to the Russia-China alliance as the main failure of Biden and a threat to the United States. He called the war in Ukraine a “nationalist debate”. He also reminded the electorate of the idea of reformatting the NATO bloc, lifting sanctions on Russia to distance Moscow from Beijing, and reconciliation in the Ukraine crisis. In support of Ramaswamy, Elon Musk came out in support after that interview, and it was a big win for Vivek. Musk has expressed sympathy for DeSantis in the past, but has now switched favorites. This all happened before the Republican debate, which was supposed to be the moment of truth for Ramaswamy. If he performed strongly, he could claim the coveted Vice Presidential running mate position from Trump. And then, if he won, he could already lead the “conservative revolution” in Washington that he has been calling for the past year.

In the end, the Republican primary was held in Wisconsin on August 24, and eight candidates participated. The debate quickly descended into endless bickering, especially between Vivek Ramaswamy and all the other contestants who jumped on him. Vivek was criticized for everything from his age and “inexperience” to his unwillingness to spend money on Ukraine. But he was the clear winner of the debate because of this. The debate was supposed to be a defining moment for Ron DeSantis, whose presidential campaign is in clear crisis. But he delivered a remarkably weak performance, fretting, constantly stipulating and even mixing up China and Taiwan. Mike Pence and Chris Christie tried to attract the support of Trump’s opponents, but somehow they failed to break the consensus within the party. The audience cheered Ramaswamy’s calls to sharply cut support for Ukraine. He called the Russia-China alliance, which has only grown stronger amid the Ukraine conflict, the greatest threat to the United States. Vivek also actively mocked other candidates, like Pence or Christie, for taking a trip to bow to Zelensky. During the debate, searches for Ramaswamy skyrocketed, and he began to fight for second place in the primary with DeSantis, not theoretically but practically. And after such success at the debate, where he performed the brightest, Ramaswamy has a good chance of overtaking DeSantis and becoming the second highest rated candidate after Trump. It is worth noting that Trump was absent from the debate, as he did not see the point of participating in it, because he is already supported by more than 60% of Republicans. It is also important that all the participants in the debate, with the exception of Christie, agreed to support Trump if he wins the primaries. In the meantime, Trump himself gave an interview to Tucker Carlson, and it has already garnered over 80 million views, which is definitely more than the debate audience. But even given that fact, Vivek has clearly strengthened his bid to become Vice Presidential running mate with the great Trump after this debate.

Already in the first poll that came out after the Republican debate, Vivek Ramaswamy was in first place, and 22% of Republicans thought Vivek was the winner of the debate. Moreover, Trump, who didn’t even participate in the debate, came in second place. Ramaswamy managed the near impossible. On the one hand, he was funny and cheerful, and on the other hand, he delivered his ideas in a clear and to the point manner that appealed to many Republicans. He even stole a famous quote from Obama, calling himself a “skinny guy with a funny name.” That’s how Obama presented himself at the Democratic Party convention in 2004, and four years later he became president. There is no doubt that the 38-year-old Ramaswamy will now increasingly be called the Republican Obama, referring to his background and talent, but not to the dubious image of a liberal tyrant that increasingly accompanied the White House host from 2009 to 2017. After the debate, the other candidates tried to accuse Ramaswamy of being young and inexperienced, but it worked to his advantage, because against the background of the entire Washington gerontocracy he looked very favorable, responding to the voters’ demand for young politicians. In addition, Ramaswamy is not afraid to say popular things that resonate with Republicans, which we have already written about above. Besides, he’s a pretty rich man himself, who graduated from Harvard and Yale, had a stint at Goldman Sachs, created and sold his hedge fund, and made over $100 million dollars. And he’s independent of Republican donors, like Trump, so he can say what he wants. Vivek is now surging into second place in the primaries, and Ramaswamy has excellent prospects of becoming one of the youngest Vice Presidential running mates in U.S. history. However, he has a very difficult year-long road ahead of him, and we will tell you about his further struggle for new political heights in the second part of our article.