Vivek Ramaswamy on the Debate Stage ‘Looked Like He Was Running To Be Vice President for Donald Trump’
Businessman generates fresh interest with Milwaukee encounter
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy may be capturing increased attention following his performance at the first GOP debate in Milwaukee Wis, but some remain convinced that the wealthy entrepreneur’s true goal is something else.
Ramaswamy, 38, was among eight Republicans seeking their party's nomination for president onstage Wednesday evening in Milwaukee for the first official Republican Party candidates’ debate.
The words “Vivek Ramaswamy” generated more than 1 million Google searches in the 24 hours since the debate which had been carried live on Fox News.
And Ramaswamy is now inching closer in national polling averages to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose campaign has been floundering. His placement Wednesday was center stage.
But Ramaswamy also raised eyebrows. Despite running for president himself, he heaped praise on the one presidential hopeful who ducked the Wednesday debate entirely, frontrunner Donald Trump.
Ramaswamy called Trump the “best president of the 21st Century.”
Such effusive praise for a putative rival has some questioning Ramaswamy’s motives.
“Ramaswamy on the debate the other night, and he basically looked like he was running to be vice president for Donald Trump. He wasn’t trying to win,” said former Republican congressman Charlie Dent, who represented a Pennsylvania district.
Jim Messina, who managed Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign, agreed.
“Oh, I think he is running for vice president, and I think that’s only thing. He did everything but, you know, kiss Donald Trump in that debate,” Messina said. “You know, he understands he is not going to be the Republican nominee. He is not stupid. And so he is running for the vice president or, in worse case, a member of the cabinet.
“You know, Barack Obama once said to me that he put almost every single person he ran against in the 2008 primary in his cabinet. So some of these people are just auditioning for those roles. That’s what he was doing the other night,” he added.
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