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Nobody loves Donald Trump more than Donald Trump does, but Vivek Ramaswamy isn’t far behind. Ostensibly running for president in 2024, it would be more accurate to describe the businessman as a bootlicker who hopes to become Trump’s political heir in 2028.
Among declared candidates, Ramaswamy is by far the staunchest supporter of the former president, and he has spent the past few months going out of his way not to antagonize Trump or his followers.
That hasn’t gone unnoticed.
While Trump has roundly criticized his other opponents and given them childish nicknames, Ramaswamy has so far escaped the former president’s wrath.
It’s not a dumb strategy.
This time around, Ramaswamy is building name recognition and establishing his MAGA bona fides. In addition, staying on Trump’s good side puts him in a nice position down the road. And, if the former president were to end up in jail next year, Ramaswamy could even compete for the 2024 nomination.
On Thursday, however, he made a rare misstep by inadvertently asserting that Trump is unfit to be commander in chief… although it stands to reason that neither the former president nor his supporters will draw the connection.
In fact, we know he didn’t (but more on that in a moment).
While Ramaswamy had initially stated that all of his rivals are “good people” and “fellow patriots” whom he views as “colleagues” and won’t attack, like so many other things he has said, that didn’t turn out to be true.
For example, during a contentious interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News on Thursday night, he tried to take a swipe at former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) for making lots of money after her time in government.
“I don’t believe that somebody should be able to be the next commander in chief if they have monetized their time in government,” he said.
Well, Vivek, guess what, Donald Trump and his family did that nonstop while in president!
From small potatoes like overcharging the Secret Service for staying at his properties to making up to $160 million from foreign governments during his time in office, Trump is the posterchild for monetizing his government service.
But Ramaswamy wasn’t done.
“We already have one family in the White House who I believe have sold off our foreign policy to advance their private interest,” he said.
Once again, while this was probably a swipe at President Joe Biden (even though Republicans have been unable to produce evidence to back up that claim), the bill once again fits Trump and his family better than anybody else.
Apart from Trump himself, who also made millions at his properties from candidates, groups, and countries trying to get in his good graces, his daughter Ivanka got lots of trademarks approved by China while her dad was in office, and, of course, her husband received a $2 billion investment from the Saudis even though officials at the investment fund expressed serious concerns about it.
So, when Ramaswamy says that “if you are making money off your time in government, then I don’t think you are fit to be president of the United States,” then he should probably stop being less enthusiastic about Trump, who is the worst offender of them all.
Now, will anybody else connect the dots or see the irony here?
Unlikely… and certainly not Trump.
He posted a clip of the exchange on his Truth Social platform.
