Entrepreneur and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy keeps picking up the pace of his presidential bid, even as the news is dominated by former President Donald Trump’s imminent arraignment. In fact, he’s making Trump’s treatment a centerpiece of his campaign.
Ramaswamy is launching a new campaign podcast on Monday, and he’s kicking off a 10-county swing across New Hampshire beginning next week. Among the events will be town halls in Wolfeboro, Berlin, and on the New England College campus in Henniker.
“I’m running for president to revive our national identity, and I want to hear from Granite Staters about what drives their love of our great country,” Ramaswamy told NHJournal.
The former biotech entrepreneur turned anti-‘woke’ activist announced his podcast, “The Vivek Show,” via Twitter, promising guests like podcaster Dave Rubin and author Douglas Murray. The show will “pull the curtain back on the political process for the American electorate,” Ramaswamy said.
Ramaswamy is a political newcomer with just 1 percent support in the latest Yahoo News/YouGov poll. However, as a multi-millionaire with significant resources, he can reach voters with his message as a political outsider. He is already running TV ads in Iowa and New Hampshire. And sources say some high-profile New Hampshire Republicans are considering joining his Granite State campaign.
Though some pundits see the author of “Woke, Inc.” as a serious contender for the nomination, Ramaswamy calls his campaign “a 14- to 16-month project.” One that, thus far, has focused heavily on defending Trump in the wake of his indictment. He has called out Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) as “fundamentally uncourageous” for not speaking out more quickly and forthrightly on Trump’s behalf after the news broke.
Meanwhile, Ramaswamy calls Trump’s arrest “a perversion of justice” and a “politically-motivated prosecution” that could contribute to a “national divorce” in American politics.
He has pledged to “pardon all federal defendants prosecuted based on political motives,” including “nonviolent January 6 defendants denied due process.” In theory, that could include a pardon for Trump if the Department of Justice special prosecutor Jack Smith brings charges related to the Capitol riot. Ramaswamy also wants to “shut down and replace the FBI,” in part as a response to the agency’s treatment of the former president.
Voters should pick the president, “not some Javert-style prosecutor sitting in New York City,” Ramaswamy said.
“That is not the country I know. That is not the country my parents came to. That is not the United States.”
