Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has been slowly climbing in the presidential polls recently as his charismatic campaign for president begins to catch hold. But the biotech entrepreneur has made several rookie mistakes in recent days that call into question whether he’s ready for prime time on the campaign trail.
One thing that Ramaswamy has already mastered is a Trumpian ability to blame the media for “misquoting” him on occasion — even when it’s later discovered the media quoted him with deadly accuracy. For example, he claimed that the first time he voted was in 2020 when he voted for Trump. But after the Washington Examiner dug up records of him voting in 2004 in Ohio and confronted him about it, he tried to blame the Examiner for reporting on their own story.
“This is the most false & intentionally deceitful headline of the campaign so far,” Ramaswamy posted on social media in late July. This, despite previously telling the Washington Examiner over the phone when it brought the voting discrepancy to his attention, “I appreciate you smoking that out for me. That was actually useful.”
He used a similar tactic when he told Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post that he “would be open to evaluating pardons for members of the Biden family in the interest of moving the nation forward” if he were elected. But he then told Fox News, “No, I don’t have any plans to pardon Hunter Biden. It’s planted trash. When you strike the swamp, the swamp strikes back.”
It happens with such regularity you have to wonder if it’s deliberate. Most of the right hates and mistrusts the media anyway, and setting up a situation where you can call them liars is beneficial to a Republican candidate.
Two months ago, the candidate denied to the Washington Free Beacon that he was open to ending military financial support to Israel after the outlet cited footage from the campaign trail in which he reportedly expressed a contrary view. In June, Ramaswamy said on the Breakfast Club radio show, “Yeah, that was a false reporting, actually,” and, “No, I did not,” upon the host, Charlamagne tha God, saying, “You told a voter that you were open to ending foreign aid to Israel. Then it was reported that it was a misunderstanding,” according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Ramaswamy told the outlet on Saturday, however, that he now supports phasing out most Israel aid by 2028, so “it will not require and be dependent on that same level of historical aid or commitment from the U.S.” Republican presidential candidate and ex-U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley then said in a statement, “Vivek Ramaswamy is completely wrong to call for ending America’s special bond with Israel” and that the two “countries are stronger and safer because of our iron-clad friendship.”
“Ramaswamy probably feels like he can just sort of deflect on these things and sort of shoot the messenger, just because Trump can get away with it,” Kyle Kondik, managing editor of the University of Virginia’s Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan political analysis newsletter, told the Washington Examiner. “Just because Trump can get away with it doesn’t necessarily mean everyone else can.”
Related: Vivek Ramaswamy Speaks About an ‘American Revival’
The recent dust-up about whether Ramaswamy thinks the truth about 9/11 was being covered up by the government shows why it’s best not to play that game.
Do I believe our government has been completely forthright about 9/11? No. Al-Qaeda clearly planned and executed the attacks, but we have never fully addressed who knew what in the Saudi government about it. We *can* handle the TRUTH. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/Q4fY0D83N4
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) August 2, 2023
Ramaswamy said something similar on Tucker Carlson’s show.
The government absolutely lied to us. The 9-11 commission lied. The FBI lied…
In response to a question, I’m going to answer honestly based on the facts….
There are real consequences for this right now because there is a federal case of families of victims on 9/11 that want accountability, that are demanding answers. So they are suing the Saudi government and the case turns out whether or not [Saudi state involvement in 9/11] is true…
The media leaped upon this comment about 9/11, trying to paint Ramaswamy as some kind of conspiracy nut. But Ramaswamy was trying to make the point that the Saudi Arabian government’s role — if any — in 9/11 has yet to be fully revealed. Some of those involved in the plot had close ties to Saudi royals, and Ramaswamy didn’t think there was anything wrong with asking questions of our government, which has been trying for more than two decades to cover up what it knows about the Saudis and 9/11.
The way he first answered questions about his views on 9/11 left him wide open for critics to tee off on him. It was a self-inflicted wound that he couldn’t blame on the media misquoting him.
My PJ Media colleague Ben Bartee suggests that these gaffes show that Ramaswamy may be more authentic than other candidates because he’s “not controlled by the consultant class in the same way that other candidates in the primary are…” It’s a novel theory. Whether it will work or not remains to be seen.
