Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was ridiculed en masse Saturday after nearly dropping a child at a GOP rally in Vandalia, Ohio.
Video of the rally, at which President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak later Saturday night, showed Ramaswamy peering into the crowd and zeroing in on a young attendee holding a sign. According to Ramaswamy, the sign read, “My dad is deployed — proud military kid for Trump.”
Ramaswamy is then seen asking the young attendee, who identified themself as being 10 years old, to join him on stage.
“You want to come up here? Are you okay? You want to just come up here? Bring that… is it possible to get this young man up here or no?” Ramaswamy is heard saying.
After the child joined Ramaswamy on stage, the gubernatorial candidate is then seen attempting to pick him up.
“I’ll pick you up. There you go — whoa!” Ramaswamy said as he appeared to lose his grip on the child. “Big guy!”
The moment was instantly met with ridicule by countless critics.
“Absolutely brutal video: Terrible decision, terrible execution,” wrote Nick Field, an independent politics and culture writer. “This type of video haunts a candidate forever.”
Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko reacted to the clip with shock, writing, “Good God.” Veteran journalist Sam Stein issued a similarly short quip, writing, “Oh man.”
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) responded to the clip with laughter, and Majid M. Padellan, a prominent liberal commentator and advocate, called the incident “pathetic.”
“How embarrassing!” Padellan wrote in a social media post on X. “Not only is Vivek Ramaswamy an insufferable, smug jack---, but he can't even lift a small child!”
Ramaswamy: I’m going to pick you up. *almost drops kid* pic.twitter.com/C5QQWdkU4G
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 3, 2026