Vivek Ramaswamy Quits Campaign for White House

 

After a disappointing fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, Vivek Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old entrepreneur and political novice, dropped out of the race for the Republican White House nomination. Despite his brash policy proposals and unwavering confidence, Ramaswamy realized that he had not achieved the surprise he had hoped for. Consequently, he endorsed former President Donald J. Trump for the White House without delay. Ramaswamy, who primarily financed his campaign with his personal fortune earned in biotechnology and finance, was an unexpected contender in the race. Throughout his campaign, he closely aligned himself with Trump, pledging to stand by him even if convicted of felonies. He even vowed to pardon Trump if elected to the White House and promised to voluntarily withdraw his name from the ballot in states where Trump was disqualified due to constitutional disqualification resulting from engaging in insurrection.

Just two days before the Iowa caucuses, Mr. Trump's campaign suddenly turned against him, accusing him of being a fraud. Despite previously having warm sentiments towards his potential rival, the former president now demanded that voters reject Mr. Ramaswamy and instead vote for him.

At this point, the educated Mr. Ramaswamy had fully embraced extreme conspiracy theories, discussing a "system" that would prevent Mr. Trump from taking office and instead place Nikki Haley as a shadow candidate. He also claimed that the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was an orchestrated by federal law enforcement. Additionally, he started spreading the racist theory of "replacement," falsely alleging that Democrats were importing immigrants of color to replace white people. This theory, which has been linked to white supremacist attacks in Buffalo, N.Y., Pittsburgh, and El Paso, Texas, was presented by Mr. Ramaswamy as a fundamental aspect of the Democratic Party's beliefs, rather than a right-wing conspiracy theory.

In his opening statement, Mr. Ramaswamy asserted that he possessed an extensive understanding of the Constitution and civil service laws, allowing him to surpass former President Trump in advocating for the America First agenda. This involved swiftly terminating the Department of Education, F.B.I., and Internal Revenue Service through executive order, reducing the federal workforce by 75% via mass layoffs without Congressional approval, and gradually withdrawing America's military engagements abroad, starting with Ukraine and extending to Israel and Taiwan.

 Although his isolationist foreign policy made him vulnerable to criticism from competitors, Mr. Ramaswamy struck a chord with older voters through his sombre depiction of millennial and Generation Z voters searching for purpose, meaning, and identity, with a sense of emptiness in their lives. During the debates, he engaged in fierce confrontations with Republican rivals vying for the nomination, excluding Mr. Trump. He took aim at Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, accusing him of wearing high-heeled boots, and referred to Ms. H in a derogatory manner.

After the first Republican debate, his support among Republican primary voters surged to 11.6 percent, placing him in third position, trailing Mr. DeSantis but well ahead of the other candidates. However, he soon lost ground as his attempts to grab attention and his tendency to exaggerate the truth earned him scathing remarks from his rivals and seemed to annoy the voters. In the second Republican primary debate in September, Ms. Haley labelled Mr. Ramaswamy as "disgusting" after he accused her of hypocrisy regarding her daughter's use of the Chinese social media platform