Trouble in paradise?
Vivek Ramaswamy, a businessman running in the GOP’s presidential primary, has made his public name in part by hewing closely to ideological standards tracing to Donald Trump himself. And Ramaswamy has openly embraced absurdity, like the unsupported conspiracy theory that the Capitol riot in early 2021 tracing to Trump’s lies about the then-recent election may have been some operation by secret government cooperators. Ramaswamy’s proposals for office are brash — in line with Trump himself, like outright firing massive portions of the federal workforce. (Many individuals in civil service stay in their positions for, quite simply, a long time, accumulating experience across successive presidencies.)
Here’s what Trump said: “Vivek started his campaign as a great supporter, “the best President in generations,” etc. Unfortunately, now all he does is disguise his support in the form of deceitful campaign tricks. Very sly, but a vote for Vivek is a vote for the “other side” — don’t get duped by this. Vote for “TRUMP,” don’t waste your vote! Vivek is not MAGA. The Biden Indictments against his Political Opponent will never be allowed in this Country, they are already beginning to fall! MAGA!!!”
The message disparaging Ramaswamy went up on Trump’s Truth Social account on Saturday evening — and Ramaswamy, despite technically running against the ex-president, is so aligned with Trump that he basically dismissed the post.
“Yes, I saw President Trump’s Truth Social post. It’s an unfortunate move by his campaign advisors, I don’t think friendly fire is helpful. Donald Trump was the greatest President of the 21st century, and I’m not going to criticize him in response to this late attack,” Ramaswamy said in a lengthy post on X (formerly called Twitter). Ramaswamy’s idea is apparently something to the effect of him standing in the gap for a belabored Trump. “We owe it to our Founding Fathers to do the right thing for our country. I want to save Trump & to save this country,” the candidate added.
