Vivek Ramaswamy gains momentum ahead of the first Republican Primary Debate

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Elon Musk, the Chief of X (formerly known as Twitter), has recently created a buzz by openly endorsing Indian-American Republican Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on the X platform. This move has sparked curiosity about Musk’s strategy, especially as Ramaswamy gains momentum in national polls.

On August 17, Ramaswamy received two endorsements from Musk within hours of each other.

Initially, former Fox News host, Tucker Carlson posted his interview with Ramaswamy on X with a title “Vivek Ramaswamy is the youngest Republican presidential candidate ever. He’s worth listening to,” to which Musk responded, “He is a very promising candidate.”

In response to Ramaswamy’s post, ten point-Truth, where he states: “God is real, there are two genders, human flourishing requires fossil fuels, reverse racism is racism, an open border is no border, parents determine the education of their children, the nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind, capitalism lifts people up from poverty, there are three branches of the U.S. government, not four, and the U.S. Constitution is the strongest guarantor of freedoms in history,” and Musk again tweeted “He states his beliefs clearly.”

Musk’s endorsements come on the heels of the national polls that indicate Ramaswamy is in a neck-and-neck position with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for the second place. “In the 2024 Republican Primary, former President Trump continues to hold the majority of support with 56%, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy, both of whom hold 10%,” said the Emerson College Polling.

Ramaswamy along with DeSantis met with six other Republican candidates for their first Republican primary debate on August 23, 2023, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Former President Donald Trump has already announced he won’t participate in the first debate.

Musk has also consistently supported DeSantis’ bid for candidacy, expressing his endorsement months prior to DeSantis’s formal campaign announcement. The two collaborated closely when DeSantis officially declared his candidacy in May, utilizing the-then Twitter platform for the announcement. However, technical issues during the event garnered more attention than that actual launch itself.

During the interview, Ramaswamy, while explaining his view in this campaign, told Carlson “…And yes, we can handle the truth, COVID-19, What was the origin? What do we know about the vaccines before we mandated them? What do we know about Hunter Biden’s dealings before we systematically suppressed that story? What do we know about the truth of what happened on January 6? What do we know about that Nashville shooter manifester, the transgender individual who shot up a bunch of people in a Christian school…?”

Ramaswamy also touched on his foreign policy agenda, “Let’s think about first term in office as it relates to this dimension of foreign policy. End the Ukraine war on terms that help pull Russia out of China’s hands. That’s going to require rebuilding a lot of trust. I think I’m up for that job. And I believe that Putin can trust us to follow our self-interest, as long as we trust him to follow his,” adding that he would seek to re-establish economic ties with Russia, ensure NATO will refrain from including Ukraine within its ranks, and in exchange diminish the Russia-China alliance.

He further added, in that context, “I get India back on our side and you know, there’s a guy who’s going to rebuild trust with India, better be a guy with a name Vivek Ramaswamy, who might be up for that task. But, you know, getting India on our side to say, you know what, we’re going to be making sure that in a conflict situation in Taiwan, that we’re at least on side with the United States. But then more importantly, get semiconductor self-sufficiency in the United States, reduce our economic dependence on China.”

In reference to Middle East policy, Ramaswamy tweeted, “The centerpiece of my Middle East policy in Year 1 will be to consummate ‘Abraham Accords 2.0’ which will be good for the U.S. and good for Israel,” while noting if the United States takes the initiative in facilitating Israel’s comprehensive incorporation into the economic and security framework of the Middle East through the Accords, it would be advantageous for all parties involved.

Ramaswamy, along with two other Indian-Americans, former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, and Hirsh Vardhan Singh are among the Republican candidates with hopes of being named the Republican nominee.