Vivek Ramaswamy is Running for Guy with a Book, Or Something

I never heard of Ramaswamy before he decided he was going to run for president, and for a little while there, I kept forgetting who he was. And then I would be like, "Oh yeah! That tech capitalist dude running in the 2024 primary." And then I'd go back to ignoring his existence. That time felt good. But I'm tired of looking at him, now.

See, the GOP is going through some things. Their obvious front-runner for 2024, Donald Trump, is under four going on umpteen indictments for infinity counts, and that feels like a guy who, at what a judge just recently described (Kaplan, in a rejection of a frivolous suit re: his sexual assault of E. Jean Carroll) an "advanced age", might not exactly prosper in a grueling campaign schedule that includes all of his various criminal trials and a campaign fundraising effort that is largely going to legal fees leaving who knows what over for actual campaign stuff. 

Their former number two, previously believed to be formidable challenger Ron DeSantis, turns out to be an awkward and unlikeable stiff whose culture war machinations work well enough in the Free People's Republic of Floridastan, but look fucking quaint and actually shambolic among people who give a shit about politicians who, well, look like they actually give a shit. Ron looks like a man who gives a shit about running for president and has no idea why. It's the killer resume item that prepares him for nothing at all, in the same way Trump wanted to be president to check something off of a bucket list. Neither of them seem to give a fuck about what actually happens to people or making life better for anyone. It's "checking grievances" and "power for power's sake" all the way. 

So, look at young Vivek Ramaswamy. He is young, he's serving diversity, he's financially successful, and he seems to say anything in the hopes the applause meter goes off. He studied science but is a climate denialist and dismissed LGBT as wokeness and he's agin' it. He's the youngest guy in the race and he wants you all to know he does not think 18-24 year olds should vote without a kind of poll tax in the form of a test or military service. Which tells you how fit he is regarding understanding voting law and citizenship. 

But in a world where Ron DeSantis is collapsing like someone left his cake out in the rain, Vivek Ramaswamy looks like he's competitive with some high-single-digit, low double-digit energy in some polls. That could very well sell books for him. He says he can totally get minority voters away from Democrats.  He may very well do this, with the power of MUSIC:

That's just great. But I just wanted to hip all of you to the first thing I linked, which is that he thinks he will support Ukraine by giving some of their territory to Putin to possibly stop the war, but maybe not, because he is so tough on Russia, despite thinking we shouldn't be against Putin, and this only shows strength against China, which is totally allowed to invade Taiwan, and why not? displays a fundamental problem I have with his candidacy. He has no fucking idea what he is talking about and talks anyway, and doesn't even realize this stuff matters. Ukraine was invaded in 2014 and is now being genocided by a country run by robber barons who openly talked about wanting lebensraum and say Ukraine is a fake country and they have no intention of stopping--WITH UKRAINE. There is no opportunity for good faith negotiation here at all. And it's a let-down to all our European allies to play otherwise. 

Ramaswamy's ill-educated blathering on foreign policy looks unexceptional: in a world where foreign policy from Reagan through Trump, has been a descent from people with principles who were in grave moral and legal error (Iran-Contra--and don't check me on this unless you know what Daniel Ortega is doing right now and whether Iran still takes US hostages) to neo-con zealots who gave us a 20 year war and Gitmo, to outright screwheads like Tom Cotton--the GOP has been in trouble. That anyone thinks the GOP is pro-military or even remotely competent at foreign policy alarms me. That Mike Pompeo once thought himself doing a great job because he thought he, unlike foreign beat journalists, could find Ukraine on a map, still appalls me. 

But Ramaswamy is dead-on as a politician by saying ignorant things about foreign policy, because Americans barely do learn geography or international relations--and I suspect Republicans do less. He's dead-on politically--he will move that applause meter needle. But he is unfit to actually do the job if what he says matches what he believes. And if he can't say what he believes, he can fuck off. He should come back when he's older, wiser, knows what he's talking about, and can stand for what he believes in. 

I hope he does not win the primary, although that looks like a foregone thing and great. I support their ride or dies Trumpism for what it is. I also hope he doesn't even sell books, because all you can learn from him is don't run for president to go be a bookselling rapper. He says stupid shit like he wants to do away with the FBI and the Department of Education--this is not a serious person. He thinks the US should get high-caste immigrants with H1 visas and looks down on peach pickers. 

Pretty sure my ancestors dug potatoes and couldn't code for their lives. Or the 1800s equivalent. 

Anyway, I don't like anything about him, he's slick and empty and says random dope-baiting stuff without any substance. So, you know. He's a Republican.  He says he would run the government as Elon Musk is running Twitter or X. So. Wow. That is--quite something.