Vivek Ramaswamy gave an analysis of party realignment in U.S. It was a TED talk.
But he ruined it by talking about what he would do as president.
He is an over-caffeinated speaker. In the two TV debates he was a bullying, condescending know-it-all. But alone on the stage he becomes a TED-talk presenter letting us in on a secret he discovered. He reminds me of a revival minister or infomercial pitchman with either heaven or an extraordinary product the reward.
He explained that the American left began this century primarily interested in incomes and fairness. A Republican president and the Fed bailed out the banks in 2008 after the financial crisis. Bankers kept their bonuses. Regular working American taxpayers paid the bill. That energized the Occupy Wall Street people.
But then the left got distracted by policy advocates who thought the real problem in America is prejudice. These thought leaders were housed in universities, cause-oriented nonprofits, and think tanks. They were people with liberal arts degrees and refined sensibilities. Books, magazines, and serious journalism carried articles calling racial prejudice, misogyny, and homophobia the cause of poverty and social pathologies like addiction. This prejudice wasn't just the bias of individual racists. Leftist thought leaders argued that racial prejudice was deeply systemic and imbedded in American culture, language, and institutions.
That set of ideas appealed more to well-educated urbanites than to the non-college working class. Working people, especially White males, even including people doing hard, dirty, poorly-paid work, were defined as oppressors. They recoiled from the accusation. Democratic politicians followed the guidance of the academic thought leaders; moral scolds were on the lookout. Democrats chose elites instead of working people.
Wall Street and corporate elites were delighted the left got distracted. It was easy and cheap for them to put women and minorities on boards and in advertisements.
Ramaswamy wants to represent the new, realigned Republicans, the people who are scolded and shamed by cultural elites. Ramaswamy is a populist. He defends old-fashioned popular verities: There is a God, nuclear families are the best, there are two sexes, etc.
He voiced a combination of conspiracy theories and Trump-ism. He condemned Dr. Anthony Fauci, criticized universities, supported voting exams for young voters, dismissed climate worries, supported fossil fuels, condemned the prosecution of January 6 rioters, supported the idea of suitcases of fake ballots, condemned the Justice Department, and said we could have an immediate cut of 75% of the federal employees.
He would have been an interesting young assistant professor when I was in college, had he stuck to the analysis of the political structure. He is not competitive in this current endeavor because he is crowding into the already-filled lane held by Trump and DeSantis.
If Trump is re-elected I expect Ramaswamy to ask to be Attorney General. Watch for this. It would be a mistake for Trump. Ramaswamy would be loyal to his own ambition, not to Trump. At some point Trump would ask him to do something so dangerously illegal that Ramaswamy would refuse. Trump doesn't want another Pence.
Here is a CSPAN videotape of his speech. Click: about 40 minutes.
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15 comments:
Hard pass. VR is so bad that he makes Mike Pence look good. Of course I don't want to live in a theocracy, so Pence is a hard pass also.
Ramaswamy is an empty suit, spouting empty slogans woth obnoxious arrogance. All he’s got is fast talk,
The best way to watch him is with the sound turned off, even after you have figured out what he looks like that way,
Vivek Ramaswamy lies a lot. He called climate change “a hoax,” claimed we don’t know “the truth about Jan. 6” and spread baseless conspiracy theories about 9/11. When confronted with his lies, he said that he was misquoted, which is also a lie. He has denied criticizing Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, even though he did so in a book published just last year. And he has supported masking during the COVID-19 pandemic, pardoning Hunter Biden and cutting U.S. aid for Israel. When asked about each claim, Ramaswamy denied making them — all easily provable falsehoods.
In spite of his prolific lies, Trump remains the master and thus the Republican favorite. Nor is Trump likely to make him his AG, or anything else for that matter. He's on record calling Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 “downright abhorrent” and condemning his failure to concede the election – not a recipe for endearing oneself to a psychopath.
Ramaswamy has a bachelors degree in biology from Harvard, and a law degree from Yale. Further, the guy has a high IQ, so he does come off as a "know it all". But, he is smart. The problem is that he's not experienced. He needs to run for mayor, or congressman, or some other mid-level position in order to get his feet wet, and get some experience.
He's a former business analyst, who got very rich in the pharmaceutical industry. That doesn't qualify him to run for president.
We predicted the Trump clones, and oh boy, here they come.
De Santis, this guy, to some extent all of them.
I'm reminded of other right wing apologists who have these long winded adjective laden sociological justifications for their defense of the status quo, that by coincidence enriches them personally. Owens, Sowell, Shapiro and others, not to mention FOX. It is the ultimate conspiracy that envelopes all other conspiracies. They attribute societies ills to these mystical elites who possess Godlike powers, an evil agenda and who must be defeated at all costs. The fact that it all flies in the face of reality is lost in the barrage of verbiage. Example: "slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."
Another point. The democratization of the Presidency. With the ascension of Trump came the pinnacle of the idea that anyone can be CIC, regardless of qualifications. Sort of another example of a participation trophy, right?
Not caffeine, more likely adderall...
I am not so sure that I would write off Vivek Ramaswamy after watching that video. I was not expecting that kind of coherent exposition, after seeing him in the debates. If he gains headway, he could be dangerous. I hate his views, but he spews them out with passion, and that might appeal to those looking for a trump alternative.
Agree that Vivek has the political theory correctly analyzed. But that does not logically relate to or support the conspiracy theories catalogued in your 7th paragraph. That’s just scapegoating. The problem is that there is enough “poverty and social pathologies like addiction” to go around for everyone, no matter your race or social class. As Ronald Regan famously said: “Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.”
And recovery is when Jimmy Carter (or Joe Biden or fill in your favorite scapegoat) loses his…
Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the only way to finally end this forever war is to evacuate all of the Jewish people out of the area to the US, if they want to leave. Then stop all non-humanitarian aid. Anyone who wants to stay can do so at their own risk.
Looking at a map of the Middle East, we all know that "one of these things (countries) is not like the others," like the old song on Sesame Street. In life sometimes we need to cut our losses. Stop the pain, loss and suffering. It is not worth it.
Example: "slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."
That line in the Florida curriculum, was written by a black historian. It seems quite possible to me, and not something that would fly in the face of reality.
The Jews finally, after a couple of thousand years of persecution, finally have a homeland of their own. A suggestion that we should give it up and rely on the kindness of strangers again is not going to fly. If we have to fight the Palestinians for 10,000 years to keep that homeland, that’s what we’ll do.
Anyone who wants to take that homeland away from us is going to run into the full force and might of the Israeli military, with support coming from Israel’s allies here in America.
It's true. Everybody deserves a homeland, Palestinians included.
Some slaves managed practical self-improvement DESPITE the chains of slavery. Slavery obviously doesn’t get the credit. It’s intellectually dishonest to read the curriculum’s message otherwise. Likewise, the labored effort to equate Israel and Hamas in moral terms. Never mind those who’d primarily blame Israel for recent events, and for the lot of Palestinians generally.
Florida has made it illegal to teach Black history in a way that doesn't make kids feel uncomfortable, which can't be done without whitewashing it.
What Hamas did in Israel is bad. What Israel is doing in Gaza - bombing a densely populated city of over two million people while depriving them of food, water, medicine and fuel - is bad.
Clarification - What I meant to say was: in a way that makes kids feel uncomfortable.
He's creepy and dangerous.
(Applies to all of the GOPee candidates.)
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