Staff Reports
Last night’s debate had some really memorable moments. And boy, do we need them. It’s refreshing to actually see the candidates talk about policy for once. But let’s be real, we can’t discuss last night without talking about Vivek Ramaswamy. This guy is a newbie in the political world, and he came on stage with a bunch of buzzwords and this desire to attack everyone.
The Reason Everyone Is Piling on Vivek Ramaswamy https://t.co/epcKHEigFL
— RedState (@RedState) August 24, 2023
To be honest, Ramaswamy didn’t come across as a strong presidential candidate. He just seemed like an annoying millennial who thinks he knows better than everyone else. And it seems like the other candidates are pretty worried about his rise in the polls. But here’s the thing, his numbers might be going up nationally, but they’re not doing so well in state-level polling. He needs to win these early competitions if he wants a shot.
A friend said this morning that Vivek Ramaswamy is every kid you met in the cafeteria between matches at a debate tournament and now I can’t unthink it because it’s perfect https://t.co/HMG923JGD1
— Emily Zanotti ? (@emzanotti) August 24, 2023
The thing I just can’t buy about Vivek as mini-Trump is this: Trump is clearly fun at parties; Vivek is the guy you try to escape a conversation with at a party https://t.co/SWLNrmWOvn
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) August 24, 2023
Now, let’s talk about how the other candidates went after Ramaswamy. Nikki Haley surprised us a bit with her fiery attacks. She usually gets passionate about things she truly cares about, but this time it felt different. It was like she genuinely disliked Ramaswamy and his principles, especially when it came to foreign policy.
And let’s be clear, Ramaswamy’s foreign policy ideas are just plain bad. He thinks it’s okay for the United States to abandon its allies and focus on “friendships” instead of “alliances.” He’s comfortable with abandoning Taiwan to China and leaving Israel in the lurch. That’s not what Republicans stand for. We need a strong America on the global stage, not one that keeps retreating.
But here’s the kicker, Ramaswamy is running against Donald Trump, yet he sounds like a Trump surrogate. If he thinks Trump is the greatest president of the 21st century, then why challenge him in 2024? It doesn’t make sense. He’s clearly just there to disrupt and run interference for the former president. I’m not sure what his endgame is, maybe a cabinet position or maybe he just wants to be an agent of chaos.
Either way, last night wasn’t a good night for Ramaswamy. He may think his aggressiveness and talking time were perfect, but a lot of Americans will just find him annoying. We’ll see how the poll numbers turn out, but I don’t see this campaign being successful with that kind of behavior.
