Americans Look At Ramaswamy And See A Deeply Ugly Soul
Right from his very first answer, he came off as the kind of vicious, aggrieved slob that MAGAts love, the Trump candidate in the room— but with less finesse. He was off to the races, attacking every woman he could see: Kristen Welker, a media moderator, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, and, of course the Trump opponent he was sent to the debate to provoke for Team Trump: Nikki Haley. His best line of the night as referring to her— and DeSantis— as “Dick Cheney in 3-inch heels.”
Right after his broadside against McDaniel and the RNC— as though it was them, not the GOP policy agenda, that has made the Republicans “a party of losers”— he tweeted: “I’m sick and tired of this Republican Establishment that has made us a party of losers. Where is the accountability for years of losing: 2018, 2020, 2022 and now last night? I’m calling on @GOPChairwoman to resign tonight.”
He attacked his opponents on the stage far more than anyone else did and it became apparent that they all detested him as well. When he attacked Nikki Haley’s daughter— who was in the room— the audience booed him loudly. He lost them and never got then back— and he have Haley an opportunity to stay what the debate would be remembered for: she called him “scum.”
Of course some Republicans like him; he was kind of the Trump surrogate on the stage, or at least the Trump imitator. He knows he’s never going to be president (of the U.S.) and the other campaigns all say his motivation is fame and book-selling, but I think he’s also trying out for a Trump cabinet position. And that isn’t really far-fetched at all. Last year Trump told his fan club that Ramaswamy is "a brilliant guy" and that he’s "very impressed" with his work, calling him "a fighter" who is "standing up for America." He also referred to him as "a great American patriot" who is "fighting for the future of our country."
So… at the very least, Trump doesn’t see him as an opponent. And I think it goes beyond just seeing him as another person in the primary to prevent DeSantis— or now Haley— to consolidate enough support to become an actual threat to Trump’s nomination. In the unlikely event that Trump ever gets back to the White House, Ramaswamy will get a high profile job.
And Ramaswamy, who is QAnon-adjacent, never lets facts get in the way of his narratives. He claimed, for example, that Biden isn’t really president, an eye-roller among normal people but a “fact” among the QAnon set. During the part of the debate about abortion and what had just happened in Ohio, he lied that the voters had just codified the right to an abortion all the way up to the time of birth, although the new amendment specifically prohibits abortion after fetal viability except when the mother’s life or health is at risk. Although there is some arguing over when fetal viability occurs, it is traditionally thought to be 28 weeks. Some Republicans claim it is 24 or even 22 weeks. But it’s not “all the way to the time of birth.” (Trump routinely goes further when he’s drugged up and in the mood, claiming Democrats abort babies who are already born.)
Of course that wasn’t the only time Ramaswampy blatantly lied during the debate, nothing he’ll pay a price for since performative lying is now a staple of Republican discourse. In his case, he claimed that “wages have remained flat,” when they’re up by over 4 percent. He also claimed Canada is a major source of fentanyl (and we need to build a wall along the northern border. Fentanyl seized at the Canadian border is less than 1 percent of intercepted fentanyl.
Carrying water for Trump’s friend Putin, he also claimed that U.S. dollars helping Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression is being used for “the banning of Christians.” No Christians are being banned— except Christians who happened to be working for Putin.
A poll from WFLA asked viewers who won the debate. These were the results this morning:
Nikki Haley- 49%
Ramaswampy- 26%
Ron DeSantis- 15%
Chris Christie- 8%
Tim Scott- 2%
