Republicans Are About To Tear Into Surging Vivek Ramaswamy...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Isn't it cool that Republicans are starting to hate one of their own - Vivek Ramaswamy, the rising political star who keeps ascending in the party's 2024 presidential polls? That guy. He's strike-zone hot, as they say of streaky baseball hitters.

But it'll get rougher for him as the Dog Days of August on the campaign trail cool off into the Fall. The election is still 14 months away, yet one can't help but notice Ramaswamy's arrival in a political party that at heart already has its preferred candidate - one Donald J. Trump.

That performance at the Republican National Committee's first debate in Milwaukee last Wednesday was not a wildly successful night for him, but Ramaswamy said enough to roil the feelings of his seven fellow Republicans onstage.

Candidate Nikki Haley, for one, chastised him on several occasions, once telling him he knew nothing of foreign policy. Ramaswamy smiled it away. Same for criticism he got from former Veep Mike Pence, who got an earful from his younger (38) opponent about Pence's handling of his election certification duties at the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 - the day of the infamous riot.

Ramaswamy did not back down. And he rarely does that. His wife Apoorva (a physician) told Time Magazine that Vivek loves sports, but considers politics his favorite game. "He just loves to talk," his wife said.

So, would the Republican Party consider Ramaswamy's candidacy seriously? We ask this because his poll numbers rose from a paltry 3% before the debate to a respectable 8%. It's not a great improvement, but is quite sizable for a literal nobody. His gain in that department rankled supporters on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, to date the runner-up to Trump in most party polls.

Is Ramaswamy right or left of Trump. That's what we were looking for in our data search.

This from the profile in Time Magazine: [ Ramaswamy's politics are often hard-right: he wants to cut federal regulators, supports ending affirmative action, and argues that trans kids are often dealing with unrelated mental health problems. But he doesn’t always sound like a typical Republican. Though he describes himself as personally "pro-life," he is one of few GOP candidates who admits he does not support a federal abortion ban. He wants to ban social media for people under 16, and scrap the automatic right to vote for those under 25. ]

What comes across clearly about this guy is his glibness.

Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and an ex-ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, couldn't help frowning or looking at Ramaswamy with some disdain during that first debate. He was that effusive, his points all well-known, hard-ass Republican points, but issued always with the confidence of a raw but sharp political rookie. He is a graduate of Harvard and Yale Law School.

Unlike Trump, Vivek did not inherit his millions. As a businessman dealing in volatile hedge fund investments (pharmaceuticals), Ramaswamy found enough profitable success there to become a billionaire somewhat recently, in 2021. He likes to say he owns two modest homes in his native Ohio, but will also tell you he travels in three private jets he owns. And he loves to play down his wealth.

An anecdote in the Time Magazine article recalls a woman he met while campaigning in New Hampshire who told him she was ashamed to say she was just one of the "us cowtown people" in the state. Ramaswamy drew her smile when he said, "Oh, come on. I'm one of you."

It is that sort of connection he forges easily with voters he meets - something totally at odds with, say, Donald Trump's entitled behavior.

But we'll see if he keeps ascending.

His own Republican mates may be the ones shooting him down....

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