Vivek Ramaswamy.Photo: Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Conservative entrepreneurVivek Ramaswamyannounced his 2024 bid for the presidency Tuesday evening during an appearance onTucker Carlson Tonightand in a subsequentWall Street Journaleditorial.
“To put America first, we need to rediscover what America is. That’s why I am running for president,” Ramaswamy wrote in his op-ed. “I am launching not only a political campaign but a cultural movement to create a new American Dream — one that is not only about money but about the unapologetic pursuit of excellence.”
The Ohio native hasfounded many multibillion-dollar tech and health care companies, after graduating summa cum laude from Harvard and receiving a law degree from Yale, according to his biography page on Strive.com.
“It may seem presumptuous for a 37-year-old political outsider to pursue the highest office in the land, but I am running on a vision for our nation — one that revives merit in every sphere of American life,” Ramaswamy wrote in his announcement.
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Ramaswamy has been outspoken against companies using their platforms for social causes and has echoed the views of many far-right Republicans that America’s values are in decline, citing critical race theory, self-victimization, and efforts to stop climate change as things that have destroyed the nation’s once-shared identity.
In line with those talking points, he’s said that Americans' recent focus on diversity only emphasizes people’s differences.
In his editorial, Ramaswamy called for securing the border, eliminating affirmative action “across the American economy,” and declaring economic independence from China, which he calls “the greatest external threat to America.”
The views expressed in Ramaswamy’s books led theNew Yorkerto dub him as the “CEO of Anti-Woke, Inc.” They also piqued the curiosity of Fox News hostTucker Carlson, who has since made Ramaswamy a regular guest on his show.
Speaking with Carlson during his campaign announcement, Ramaswamy got riled up discussing so-called “alternative religions” in America — wokeness, affirmative action and environmentalism — that he credits with destroying American culture.
“We need to take the most sacred cows of these alternative secular religions and, I’m sorry to say this, take them to the slaughter house,” he said.
Ramaswamy is the latest politician to announce his run in the GOP primary following former South Carolina Gov.Nikki Haley, who announced hercandidacy last Tuesday.
Haley, 51, served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under former PresidentDonald Trump, from January 2017until her resignation in December 2018. Trump, 76,announced his own 2024 runback in November during a speech at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.
source: people.com
