Vivek Ramaswamy, the conservative writer and pharmaceutical corporate entrepreneur who introduced a long-shot bid for the presidency in overdue February, believes that on the finish of the GOP nomination race, he and previous President Donald Trump would be the two best applicants.
He does not suppose that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is “suited to be a leader of our country” and referred to as him “fundamentally uncourageous,” noting the duration of time that handed before DeSantis publicly addressed Trump’s previous declare that he can be indicted.
“Anyone that’s coming in as sort of a professional politician, with all the plastic features, I don’t see our base ending there. I think they need the outsider,” Ramaswamy informed CBS News all the way through a seek advice from to Washington D.C. previous this week.
Ramaswamy, a 37-year-old Indian American CEO who has been a common visitor on Fox News, has been visiting early presidential number one states and says he’ll release a day by day podcast about his marketing campaign quickly.
But he’s nonetheless a rather unknown determine to the GOP base. In early presidential number one polls, Ramaswamy’s title both has now not registered or a plurality of electorate have mentioned they do not know who he’s. In a February Monmouth University poll, 49% of Republicans mentioned they hadn’t heard about him.
But Ramaswamy, whose presidential run is his first run for place of job, argues he can also be the “outsider” flesh presser that the Republican base — and Trump’s base of electorate — need.
“It’s not going to be immediate. It’s going to be a 14- to 16-month project,” Ramaswamy mentioned of his marketing campaign.
He claims he would take Trump’s “America First” schedule “further than he ever did” — and in a much less divisive manner. Ramaswamy vowed to “take on” affirmative motion, the “climate cult,” display a “use of force to solve the [Mexican drug] cartel problem” and says he would close down the Department of Education, which he maintains has “no reason to exist,” a stance well-liked amongst a host of Republicans, together with Trump.
Ramaswamy feels the rustic is in “the middle of a national identity crisis” and that more youthful generations suppose of themselves as “victims rather than victors,” a core stance in a single of his books.
“Conservatives are hungry, they want to go further, but they don’t want to abandon the moral core of conservatism,” Ramaswamy mentioned, with out answering whether or not Trump has broken that “moral core,” as Trump faces an arraignment subsequent week in Manhattan, whilst a number of different investigations of the previous president are underway.
Ramaswamy believes that the presidential number one race will alternate after the primary debate in August, particularly for DeSantis, whose doable candidacy has attracted huge pastime amongst Republicans already.
“He happens to be the one that I think the country believes might actually be a career politician who has a shot, [but] I think that we the country and the Republican base certainly will see through that act. I think they’re already starting to,” Ramaswamy mentioned.
DeSantis has now not formally introduced a 2024 run but, however has been making visits to early presidential number one states and battleground states to advertise his new ebook and communicate to native Republican teams. And in early hypothetical surveys of the 2024 box up to now this yr, DeSantis is all the time within the best two with Trump, with many different applicants trailing a ways at the back of.
Still, Ramaswamy is keen to tackle DeSantis at once, and characterised him as a child who grew up “in their sheltered environment” and mentioned DeSantis has created an “echo chamber” of support in Florida.
DeSantis “indulged himself into thinking that’s actually the world. The world’s not going to be nice to you, man,” mentioned Ramaswamy.
“We’re talking about representing the freaking United States of America on the global stage. That can’t be the guy. He doesn’t have it. I know he’s deeply insecure. He won’t tell you whether he got the second shot. He’s not going to tell you whether he got the second shot — what business [does he have] standing up to Vladimir Putin,” Ramaswamy mentioned. He additionally criticized DeSantis’ fights with Disney and funding control corporate Blackrock.
CBS News has reached out to DeSantis’ political group for remark.
Ramaswamy used to be one of the primary within the doable 2024 box to turn public support for Trump after he predicted he can be indicted, which he says he did “on principle.” Ramaswamy mentioned he used to be now not positive how this indictment or any long term fees stemming from different investigations of Trump will have an effect on the nomination race.
As for the remaining of the possible 2024 box, Ramaswamy used to be fast to label them “professional career politicians” who would now not win the support of Republican number one electorate.
Of former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, the one different declared candidate within the race but even so Ramaswamy and Trump, the biotech entrepreneur mentioned she used to be a “classic case” of a “professional career politician.” “I think she and DeSantis share a lot in common, even though they appear different,” he mentioned.
He mentioned of former Vice President Mike Pence that he is a “good man — career politician, who actually does express his beliefs.”
Of Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who could also be mulling a presidential bid, that he “seems like a nice enough man — I think he’s still deciding who he wants to be,” Ramaswamy mentioned.
A local of Cincinnati, Ramaswamy used to be thought to be to be a possible GOP challenger to Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio in 2024, however informed CBS News he has dominated out a run and has his eyes set at the presidency.
Fin Gomez and Fernando Suarez contributed to this document.