With Iowa’s Republican caucus now just days away, presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy needs your eyes and ears. As always, he has been more than willing to court controversy, speaking what he invariably claims to be “truths.”
On Jan. 11 in Cedar Rapids, Mr. Ramaswamy appeared with two controversial figures on America’s conservative scene.
To his right stood Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who was primaried by another Republican after the New York Times alleged that he spoke in support of white nationalism.
To his left stood Candace Owens, whose critical comments on Israel have drawn attacks from a fellow Daily Wire host, Ben Shapiro.
Mr. Ramaswamy, who bounded up to the stage in his signature bomber jacket, gloried in imagining how the legacy media would report on the trio: one Indian American, one black, one white, all subjected to accusations of prejudice amplified by an often unsympathetic press.
“Is it going to be the brown face of white supremacy, the white face of brown supremacy? They’re going to have a field day with that,” he said.
Ms. Owens alluded to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s comparison between Mr. Ramaswamy and OpenAI’s generative artificial intelligence platform, Chat-GPT.
“I’ve had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT standing up here,” Mr. Christie said at the first Republican primary debate in August.
Mr. Christie dropped out of the race for the GOP’s presidential nomination on Jan. 10.
“Oh, you mean he’s smart? You’re saying he sounds like a computer that spits out answers that are correct? Okay, I can get comfortable with that,” Ms. Owens said.
An attempt to remove President Trump from the ballot in Colorado has made it to that body after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that he is not eligible to appear on the state’s Republican primary ballot.
“Those who seek to disqualify presidential candidates from even appearing on the ballot fundamentally distrust the American people.
On a stage at the National Czech-Slovak Museum & Library, Mr. Ramaswamy said he filed the amicus brief “because, frankly, I don’t know if they’re going to make the best legal arguments.”
Yet, Mr. Ramaswamy denied to The Epoch Times that he had spoken critically of President Trump’s legal team while on stage.
He then added, “I think legal arguments that have been made in some of the past cases I think were not made as effectively as they should be”—delicate phrasing from a man who has banked on being President Trump’s successor even as the former president continues to fight for the same nomination, and in his various legal battles.
Mr. Ramaswamy wrapped up the event as another GOP hopeful, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, was preparing to hold her own “Pick Nikki” campaign event nearby.
President Trump wasn’t in Iowa on Jan. 11. Instead, he was in a New York City courtroom listening to closing arguments in New York’s civil fraud case against him.
The former lawmaker has been very active in opposing the plans.
Mr. King told The Epoch Times that the issue made the difference in his decision to endorse Mr. Ramaswamy.
“Trump’s not defending our constitutional property rights on this pipeline,” he said.
