Conservative “anti-woke” entrepreneur and crusader Vivek Ramaswamy announced during Tuesday’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” show on Fox News that he was running for president in 2024.
“We are in the middle of this national identity crisis, Tucker, where we have celebrated our differences for so long that we forgot all the ways we are really just the same as Americans bound by a common set of ideals that set this nation into motion 250 years ago,” Ramaswamy, a health care and tech sector entrepreneur, conservative commentator, and author who has waded into the culture wars in recent years.
“That’s why I am proud to say tonight that I am running for United States president to revive those ideals in this country,” Ramaswamy said, adding that he thinks “we need to put ‘merit’ back into ‘America’ in every spirit of our lives” while vowing to end affirmative action in “every sphere of American life.”
Fox News noted further: “The 37-year-old Ramaswamy, author of ‘Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam,’ has been on what he’s described as a ‘listening tour’ in recent weeks that took him earlier this month to New Hampshire, which votes second in the Republican presidential nominating calendar. Ramaswamy, who was dubbed ‘the CEO of Anti-Woke Inc.’ in a New Yorker magazine profile last year, will return to New Hampshire on Wednesday, with multiple stops in Rochester and Manchester.”
Imagine referring to Vivek as a 'major candidate' when no one even heard of this guy until 5 minutes ago https://t.co/1zTXvhj1AF
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) February 22, 2023
“This isn’t just a political campaign; this is a cultural movement to create a new dream for the next generation of Americans,” Ramaswamy noted in a campaign video released online as he announced on Carlson’s show. Rather, Ramaswamy said that his campaign is “about the unapologetic pursuit of excellence in our country. It means you believe in merit; that you get ahead in this country not on the color of your skin but on the content of your character and your contributions.”
Vivek Ramaswamy is running for president.
I like the ESG speeches but what the heck lol.
I guess people are just throwing their hat in the ring these days to apply for a cabinet position.
— Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) February 22, 2023
“I grew up in Ohio in the ’90s as a skinny kid with nerdy glasses and a funny last name,” he said. “My parents taught me that if you’re going to stand out, then you might as well be outstanding. Achievement was my ticket to get ahead. I went on to found multibillion-dollar companies. And I did it while getting married, raising a family and following my faith in God.”
Earlier this month, Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital that he wants to answer “the question of what it means to be American in the year 2023.”
“I’m 37 years old. When you ask people my age and younger what it means to be American today, you get a blank stare,” he said. “I have a vision of what the answer to that question ought to be. I care about advancing that vision.”
If you can’t fire someone for being black or gay or Muslim (or Hindu or Jewish or whatever), then you shouldn’t be able to fire someone for being an outspoken conservative either.
Make political expression a civil right in America. pic.twitter.com/tIXdopWwjC
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) February 20, 2023
Interesting.
— Catherine Allard Ginther (@cat_ginther) February 22, 2023
In describing his vision, he said it consists of restoring the “national identity in America” and pushing back on the “vacuum” experienced by younger Americans who fill the void with “the poison of wokeism and climatism and transgenderism, and COVIDism for that matter.”
Ramaswamy is advocating for a complete severing of ties with Communist China. He believes that China poses a greater threat to the United States than the Soviet Union did during the Cold War, due to China’s extensive production of everyday goods such as shoes and smartphones.
Tfw a GOP "presidential" candidate is a literal … *checks notes* … Soros Fellow.
— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) February 22, 2023
Vivek Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire biotech company founder and critic of ESG investing principles, says he is entering the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race https://t.co/qydjQB2rbm
— Wendy Kortepeter (@WKortepeter) February 22, 2023
He admitted that decoupling from Beijing is “not going to be easy,” explaining that “it will require some sacrifice of short-term conveniences.” But, he said, in the end, it will have been worth it.
Ramaswamy, the son of legal Indian immigrants, is a proponent of merit-based immigration and does not support leniency for individuals who have illegally entered the United States. He places a high priority on restoring free speech, which would involve elevating political expression to a civil right and banning censorship by Big Tech at the government’s request.
Ramaswamy also said he is committed to dismantling affirmative action and what he terms the “new climate religion,” which he sees as a “cancer on the American soul.”
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
