Vivek Ramaswamy Could Get Traction, Thinks WHO Deal ‘Bad’

by Roger L. Simon

I may be crazy. I may be falling for the latest bright, shiny object. But I suspect Vivek Ramaswamy, who announced for the U.S. presidency on Tucker Carlson’s show on Feb. 21, could get serious traction in the race.

By that, I mean more than the other announced or unannounced Republican candidates—other than Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis, of course. And then—who knows? Billionaire investor Bill Ackman thinks he will go all the way.

We can clearly say he’s someone new, as opposed to Nikki Haley, who advertises herself as such but, as a career politician, is anything but. Ramaswamy bills himself as a “capitalist and citizen.”

In that way, he’s comparable to Trump, who Vivek says he admires but soon may find himself being lampooned with a new nickname like “DeSanctimonious.” (That one would have been better applied to former Sen. Rick Santorum.)

Because the 37-year-old entrepreneur/author has a biotech background, I asked him early on Feb. 22 via text what he thought of the new agreement to hand over control of our country’s health care to the World Health Organization (WHO) in the event of another pandemic.

He came back immediately with a one-word response: “Bad.”

Late for a New Hampshire event, he promised more later, but that pithy response said it all.

His answer to the question of why he’s running is somewhat more lengthy, but still to the point.

“I believe we are at a precipice in this country,” he told The Iowa Star (yes, he’s already been to Iowa and now N.H.). “I’m a first-generation American, born and raised in Ohio, and I went on to found multibillion-dollar companies. I got ahead based on merit, not my skin color. And I did it while getting married, creating a family, and following my faith in God. If I’d been born 20 years later, my story would have been impossible. That’s a sad reality that I want to change for the next generation of Americans.

“Our nation is hungry for a cause; we want purpose and meaning. The ‘woke’ left preys on that vacuum with a poisonous obsession with race, sexuality, and climate change. In reality, I think most Americans believe in merit, accountability, free speech, and American exceptionalism.”

Ramaswamy may have come along at a propitious moment because most Americans, even many Democrats, are getting sick unto death with the meretricious woke and the not-unrelated ESG [environmental, social, and governance] agenda. The candidate is the author of the best-selling “Woke, Inc.” which illustrates the ugly truth behind the movement, that it’s simply a heist preying on the gullible and confused.

The man also is a strong advocate of a complete decoupling with China, acknowledging the obvious pain in that—where’s my cheap stuff—but willing to lead us through it.

Ramaswamy, a graduate of Harvard and Yale—speaking of woke, it would be interesting for someone, maybe me, to ask him along the way what he thinks of those institutions today—is obviously more of a high-IQ type than we are used to in our politicians. He would probably outscore all of them on the mental competency test that Haley is advocating.

But this could be a good or bad thing. He’s obviously right about judging people on their merit and skills (naturally, their character as well) and not their skin color or sexual preference. There is, however, something intimidating about merit. It may have made this country great and advanced humanity significantly (Franklin, Edison, Bell, the Wright Brothers, Salk, and so forth) but most of us aren’t nearly at that level. It could turn off voters, especially in our current era when too many avert their eyes from the truth.

Ramaswamy’s candidacy will be an interesting test of that. Coming more or less out of nowhere, it’s a bold move to run for the presidency. But judging from the media interest, including the predictably snide responses from The New York Times, Politico, and others as if their reporters were anywhere near as accomplished, something, as they say, is happening here. And as they also say, “it ain’t exactly clear.”

But sooner or later, it will be. The campaign of 2024 just became notably more interesting and less predictable.

First published in the Epoch Times.