While most of his positions are not new — most of them have been pet GOP themes forever — he makes them sound as if he conceptualized them himself. For altogether different reasons, however, some of his views, certainly not all, might resonate with a majority of his Indian American compatriots
Vivek Ramaswamy, the Indian American candidate seeking Republican nomination for the presidency said he wanted to end affirmative action, shut down the Department of Education, ban teachers’ unions, replace the FBI and IRS, “annihilate” the Mexican drug cartels with military action at the southern border and enter into a confrontation with China.
All this, he said, he would do with Executive Orders on Day 1 in the Oval Office.
Do these words sound like those from Donald Trump? Well, it does and and it is paying off for Ramaswamy who is gradually inching up in opinion surveys.
He is currently at an impressive 5 percent in New Hampshire, the first state to hold a GOP primary.
Nationally, he is at 4 percent, which is not something to sneer at considering that he has tied with Nikki Haley, a seasoned candidate with greater name recognition, and scoring better than other declared candidates like Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.
What’s making this political novice who never ran for elective office tick? In a primary season when most aspirants are trying to get some traction by out-Trumping Trump, but without his burlesque baggage, Ramaswamy appears more authentic when he declares his admiration for the former president’s America First agenda but affectionately attacks him for not going the whole hog.
“I’m in this race to take the America First agenda far further than Donald Trump ever did,” he declared at a campaign stop in New Hampshire recently, reported americankahani.com.
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Repurposing an old Republican orthodoxy, he said that Blacks were better off during the 1960s when they were entrepreneurial and lived in two-parent homes, even if socioeconomic data does not support such claims.
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A father of two young children, Ramaswamy was quite animated about family values which resonate with his Indian American audience as much as they do with evangelical Christians
Ramaswamy, who authored the bestseller “Woke Inc: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam” is an outsider, and outrageously successful entrepreneur at a very young age (he is willing to spend $100 million on his campaign), visibly intelligent, clinically articulate, and infectiously confident and unlike other candidates he presents his policy ideas in pithy sentences without sounding wonky.
While most of his positions are not new — most of them have been pet GOP themes forever — he makes them sound as if he conceptualized them himself. For altogether different reasons, however, some of his views, certainly not all, might resonate with a majority of his Indian American compatriots.
In a Zoom conference hosted by Indiaspora earlier, Ramaswamy spoke about bringing back “meritocracy” and ending the “quota” system to a presumably receptive audience, saying that Indian Americans were victims of affirmative action policies.
He claimed that there was a 400-point differential between Asian and Black applicants in admissions to elite universities.
Saying that reservations and quota system have been a failure in India, he claimed they were the reason for the exodus of meritorious people like his parents to America and elsewhere (his father is a patent lawyer and his mother a physician).
Repurposing an old Republican orthodoxy, he said that Blacks were better off during the 1960s when they were entrepreneurial and lived in two-parent homes, even if socioeconomic data does not support such claims.
A father of two young children, Ramaswamy was quite animated about family values which resonate with his Indian American audience as much as they do with evangelical Christians.
The question that is being asked is: how far Ramaswamy will go in his presidential quest? Unlike Nikki Halley, who according to most estimates will position herself for the number 2 on any nominee’s ticket, Ramaswamy cannot count on it given his total lack of electoral base.
While his immense wealth will afford him to stay in the fray for a long time, he will still need to do better in the polls to hang his hat in the Republican debates.
In fact, he is counting on his ability to reach the debate stage to propel his candidacy.
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