All posts tagged "vivek ramaswamy"

J.D. Vance loans core advisers to boost Vivek Ramaswamy's Ohio governor bid: report

Vivek Ramaswamy's bid to become Ohio's next governor has the support of the Trump administration, NBC News reported Monday.

The billionaire entrepreneur, who recently left his post with Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is expected to announce his run next month. When he does, he'll have the power of the White House behind him, thanks to Vice President J.D. Vance "loaning out" his own top political advisers to boost Ramaswamy's campaign.

NBC News quoted an anonymous source who said Ramaswamy hired Vance's advisers following two weeks of conversations between the former Yale Law classmates.

ALSO READ: Top GOPer's ‘most immediate’ priority for new committee includes probing a MAGA conspiracy

"The hirings also signal that Vance’s team, which overlaps in places with President Donald Trump’s, is fully behind Ramaswamy and that Vance himself is comfortable loaning out his advisers' talents to him," NBC News reported, adding, "For Vance, it’s an early flex of the political muscle that helped elevate him first to the Senate in his and Ramaswamy’s native Ohio and, most recently, to the vice presidency."

NBC News named Jai Chabria and Andy Surabian as two of Vance's advisers who are expected to come on board.

"Chabria, a longtime Republican operative in Ohio, will be the campaign’s general consultant. Surabian, a veteran of Trump’s earlier races who consulted on Sen. Bernie Moreno’s successful campaign last year in Ohio and is a senior political adviser to Donald Trump Jr., will oversee an outside political organization aligned with Ramaswamy," the report said.

Also expected to join Ramaswamy's campaign are Tony Fabrizio, "the pollster from Vance’s 2022 Senate bid who has worked on Trump’s campaigns," and Arthur Schwartz, "a close ally to Vance and Trump Jr."

Gov. Mike DeWine (R) is unable to run again after serving two terms as Ohio's governor. DeWine appointed Lt. Gov. John Husted (R) to fill Vance's vacated spot in the U.S. Senate, so he's out of the running, as well. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Ramaswamy's biggest competition in the Republican primary will be Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

Read the NBC News report here.

'Elon basically runs the show': Trump insider claims as Ramaswamy eyes DOGE exit

Vivek Ramaswamy may have his sights set on becoming Ohio's next governor, despite plans for him to head up Donald Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) along with with Elon Musk, according to a new report.

Trump appointed the two billionaires to the newly-formed department with a goal of cutting $2 trillion of waste from the federal budget. Musk has since revised that number to $1 trillion.

Ramaswamy (R), who recently ran for the Republican nomination for president, intends to formally announce his gubernatorial candidacy by the last week in January, according to Politico.

Incumbent Gov. Mike DeWine will not run again in 2026 due to term limits, and he recently appointed his Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. Ramaswamy, an Ohio resident, is said to have been "interested" in filling Vance's seat before Husted was announced.

Politico cited "multiple" anonymous sources in its reporting.

ALSO READ: Inside the parade of right-wing world leaders flocking to D.C. for Trump's inauguration

Reporter Adam Wren wrote that on Saturday "Ramaswamy showed up at an all-hands DOGE meeting at the SpaceX headquarters in Washington," adding that "Musk was not present."

The report continued, "Privately, some in Trump’s world see Ramaswamy’s nascent gubernatorial campaign as a way to clear a path for Musk to do his own work at the agency without him."

An "informal" adviser to Trump added, “Elon basically runs the show."

Wren wrote, "A person well briefed on the inner workings of DOGE said that multiple executive orders related to its purview are expected in the first week of the Trump administration, including one that deals with government contracts and one that assigns how the DOGE workforce is embedded throughout the federal government."

Representatives for Ramaswamy, Musk, and DOGE declined to comment on these latest developments.

A breakdown of Trump's uber-wealthy admin officials as Joe Biden warns of 'oligarchy'

President-elect Donald Trump may have claimed that he would hire "the best people" to work in his incoming administration, but one thing's for certain — he is hiring the richest.

In fact, the combined wealth of Trump’s richest nominees and transition team officials "amounts to over $313 billion," according to a report from Americans For Tax Fairness.

Trump's pick for treasury secretary, hedge fund executive Scott Bessent, is set to answer questions at his confirmation hearing on Thursday. Bessent "has hundreds of millions of dollars in assets and owns property from North Dakota to the Bahamas," CNN reported.

ALSO READ: Fox News has blood on its hands as Trump twists the knife

CNN national political writer Fredreka Schouten pointed out the irony in an article for CNN.com Thursday, writing, "Trump is returning to the White House after making appeals to working-class voters in last year’s election, but he has assembled one of the wealthiest administrations in history – turning to nearly a dozen people worth at least $1 billion on their own or combined with their spouses’ assets – to oversee the nation’s policies and represent the US overseas as ambassadors."

Some of the more high-profile multi-millionaires and billionaires ready to take their place in the Trump administration are Elon Musk ($300+ billion), Vivek Ramaswamy ($1 billion), Doug Bergum ($100 million), and, of course, Trump ($5.4 billion) and incoming Vice President J.D. Vance ($4.8 to $11.3 million), themselves.

Americans For Tax Fairness broke out the names and net worths of some of the other wealthiest nominees and office holders. They include:

Linda McMahon, Education Secretary Nominee, $2.6 billion; Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary Nominee, $2 billion; Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary, $1 billion; Steven Witkoff, Special Envoy to the Middle East, $500 million; Chris Wright, Energy Secretary Nominee, $171 million; Robert F. Kennedy Jr. HHS Secretary Nominee, $15 million; Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Labor Secretary Nominee, $9.6 million; Michael Waltz, National Security Advisor, $9 million; Pete Hegseth, Defense Secretary Nominee, $6 million; Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Secretary Nominee, $1 to $5 million; Marco Rubio, Secretary of State Nominee, $3 million; Brooke Rollins, Agriculture Secretary Nominee, $3 million; Elise Stefanik, UN Ambassador Nominee, $1.8 million; Pam Bondi, Attorney General Nominee, $1.8 million.

During his farewell speech Wednesday, President Biden warned Americans about allowing the super-rich to control the government.

“I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. And this is a dangerous concern. And that’s the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people,” Biden said. “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”

View the list of the wealthiest nominees and office holders here and read the CNN Politics article here.

‘Mind your own damn business’: Vivek Ramaswamy repurposes Tim Walz quote for GOP

CHICAGO — Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and former Donald Trump administration Ambassador Carlos Trujillo came to Chicago on Thursday to rip on the city as what they consider an example of the ravages of illegal immigration.

Yet, amid the bashing of Chicago and Vice President Kamala Harris for not being tough enough on undocumented migrants, Ramaswamy — who reportedly has political ambitions in a future Trump administration or as an Ohio gubernatorial or U.S. Senate candidate — gave props to Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, at a press conference at the Trump International Hotel and Tower.

ALSO READ: Donald Trump exploits AP photo error for new $99 'Save America' book

“I gotta admit I kind of like Tim Walz’s slogan. What does he say? ‘Mind your own damn business,’” Ramaswamy said at the press conference hosted by the Trump campaign.

Ramaswamy repurposed the slogan with an “anti-woke” sentiment he’s known to push, contrasting with Walz’s message about Republicans intruding on citizens' reproductive freedoms.

“It's a message that we espouse ourselves when it comes to entering your house and taking your gas stove, mind your own damn business,” Ramaswamy said. “When it comes to letting millions of illegals into this country to commit crimes and mind our business, we tell them mind your own damn business. When it comes to actually indoctrinating our children in this country, telling small businesses who they can and cannot hire … mind your own damn business.”

ALSO READ: Inside the Democratic National Convention corporate moneyfest

The press conference — part of a week's worth of daily Trump campaign counter-programming outside the Democratic National Convention — started with new Trump campaign ads featuring a video compilation of Harris’ comments saying that “an undocumented immigrant is not a criminal.”

Trujillo, who served as U.S. permanent representative to the Organization of American States from March 2018 to January 2021, bashed "sanctuary cities" such as Chicago, which won’t deny someone city services strictly because of their immigration status.

“The United States is not a sanctuary for all. It’s a sanctuary for Americans who come here to work for our county and to defend our Constitution,” Trujillo said.

Carlos Trujillo, former ambassador, speaks to press at the Trump Tower in Chicago in Thursday. (Photo by Alexandria Jacobson/Raw Story).

Ramaswamy called Chicago “a city ravaged and devastated by the effects of not only rampant crime, but rampant crime worsened by the effects of illegal mass migration to this country.”

The estimated illegal immigrant population in the United States was 11 million in 2022, according to a July 2024 article from the Pew Research Center. The number peaked at 12.2 million in 2007.

The latest homicide statistics from the City of Chicago show that there have been 364 killings in Chicago this year through Aug. 17 — 34 less than the same time last year. Chicago began to see a decline in homicides in 2022 after a spike in 2020 and 2021, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Tyrone Muhammad, founder of Ex-Cons for Community and Social Change and Ex-Cons for Trump, attended the press conference in support of Ramaswamy and Trump. As a native Chicagoan who said he served 21 years in prison for murder, Muhammad agreed with Ramswamy’s characterization of Chicago a crime-ridden city saying he understands “what gang drugs and violence does.”

“They're saying the right messages, talking about the right points in our communities. The only question I would have is, why don't Republicans reach out more to communities that feel more disinvested by the Democratic Party?” Muhammad said. “For 60 years, my grandmama, uncles and family members have traditionally voted Democrat, and so here's the opportunity for us to do something different and give another party a chance to see how they can help fix some of the issues.”

J.R. Majewski, a controversial former congressional candidate from Ohio, sat in the audience at the Trump press conference and posted on X his support of Ramaswamy’s speech.

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Harris is scheduled to deliver her presidential nomination acceptance speech tonight at Chicago's United Center, where prime-time Democratic National Committee festivities have taken place since Monday.

'Hypocrisy is so thick': Onlookers slam Vivek Ramaswamy for calling Democrats 'juvenile'

Vivek Ramaswamy, a former GOP presidential candidate and current ally to Donald Trump, was hit with allegations of hypocrisy after his latest attempt to play defense for Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance.

Vance himself addressed the comments on social media, as well, leading one GOP strategist to say that, "Sarah Palin didn’t collapse this badly this fast."

Ramaswamy made his own attempt late on Sunday.

ALSO READ: Boebert, MTG and far-fight friends derail Speaker Mike Johnson’s summer plans

"This whole 'they’re weird' argument from the Democrats is dumb & juvenile," Ramaswamy said. "This is a presidential election, not a high school prom queen contest."

He then continued, "It’s also a tad ironic coming from the party that preaches 'diversity & inclusion.' Win on policy if you can, but cut the crap please."

The negative reactions came fast.

"You guys are weird," said Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaimie was gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. "But don't care about that. I care about your allegiance to a damaged and demented con and the threat that you all pose to Democracy. Weird or not, you will be defeated in this election. Stop whining and go away."

David Hogg said, "Dumb and f------ juvenile? Trump literally jokes about the size of his d--- on national TV. Also if you gotta say your [sic} aren’t weird- I got bad news for ya."

Conservative Army Iraq War Veteran Peter Henlein also chimed in on Sunday: "The hypocrisy is so thick you could almost drown in it."

Former prosecutor Ron Filipkowski said, "A finalist for Weirdo Hall of Fame checks in."

@PatriotTakes quoted Ramaswamy in 2021 saying of the term "people of color," "It sounds like a weird cult and it wrongly combines hundreds of different races into one."

'We will lose votes': Key MAGA ally begs Trump fans to stop contradicting themselves

Former President Donald Trump and his supporters were enraged about President Joe Biden exiting the presidential race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him, after a long and carefully crafted strategy built up over the last several months to attack Biden as infirm and incapable of executing the duties of office.

But in their rush to attack Harris, they tripped over themselves, warned former GOP presidential candidate turned Trump surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy in a post on X — and muddling up their own message in a way that will fall flat with voters.

"Time for our side to wake up to some hard realities, fast," he wrote. First, "Stop calling on Biden to step down or to be forced out. That will just give Kamala all the benefits of running as an incumbent U.S. President. And she won’t be any better for America in the next 5 months than Biden will be."

Second, he warned, "Stop attacking Kamala for locking up too many people as a prosecutor. It lends credibility to the otherwise ridiculous claim that she’s a 'law-and-order' candidate."

Additionally, he pleaded, "Stop saying that Kamala covered up to help Biden, while also saying that Kamala staged a coup to overthrow Biden. It doesn’t make sense to say both at once. And if we say things that don’t make sense, we will lose votes."

This comes as the GOP tries to push both of these theories out, with Trump pushing the "coup" claim and House Republicans going for the idea she covered up Biden's struggles.

Ultimately, he said, the biggest problem for Republicans is the risk that "we get distracted & forget to offer our own vision for the future of the United States of America."

This comes after Trump delivered a furious speech to Turning Point USA in Florida, where he tried out a number of attacks on Harris as he scrambles to regain his campaign footing.

'Self important fraud': Groans as Ramaswamy shares clip implying he predicted Biden exit

Social media users collectively groaned as former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy tried to dunk on Democrats, sharing a clip Thursday of him calling for "puppet" President Joe Biden to drop out of the race.

Ramaswamy posted "it's finally happening" on X, formerly Twitter, and shared a clip of him at the GOP debate demanding Democrats "end this farce that Joe Biden is going to be your nominee."

"We know he's not even president of the United States, he's a puppet for the managerial class. So have the guts to step up and be honest about who you're actually going to put up so we can have an honest debate. Biden should step aside and end his candidacy now, so we can see whether it's [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, or Michelle Obama or whoever else."

"Just tell us the truth so we can have an honest debate," he demanded.

Critics of Ramaswamy included some from his own party, who declared they, too, knew Biden would drop out — with some even calling him a fraud who can't see the future.

"We saw it coming from a mile away," replied @Obielicious.

"Stop acting like some sage, you self important fraud. Everyone predicted this. You also said Trump wouldn’t be the nominee," pointed out @SwissWatchGuy.

"He's like the yapping chihuahua," wrote @RichardN541598.

"We all seen it from a mile away, just didn't think I would take 3.5 years," wrote @rickm0428.

"Vivek is a hedgefund guy who wants you to believe he is interested in public service so he can eliminate government from public life and in effect mount a private sector takeover of the country. He can’t say that. So he swaddles his ambition in talking points that pander to you," wrote Luke Zalesk, legal affairs editor at Condé Nast.

Watch the clip below or at this link.

Vivek Ramaswamy derided by CNN panelists for spewing 'patronizing stuff about Black folks'

CNN panelists including commentator Van Jones collectively panned Vivek Ramaswamy's remarks Tuesday after the former GOP candidate for president tried to claim the media spent decades trying to convince Black Americans that Republicans "don't care" about them.

Speaking in Milwaukee on Tuesday night, an impassioned Ramaswamy told MAGA supporters he had a message for Black Americans from the Republican Party "that the media doesn't want you to hear."

"Our message to Black Americans is this: The media has tried to convince you for decades that Republicans don't care about your communities. But we do," he said. "We want for you what we want for every American. Safe neighborhoods. Clean streets. Good jobs. A better life for your children. And a justice system that treats everyone equally, regardless of your skin color and regardless of your political beliefs."

The speech earned wide applause at the event — but was met with derision afterwards from CNN panelists, including Van Jones, who called Ramaswamy a "demagogue."

"He's good at it though," quipped Jones, noting a separate part of the speech where Ramaswamy got the crowd to repeatedly chant, "Vote Trump!"

But Jones derided the speech, saying it felt "patronizing" toward Black people.

"I don't like patronizing stuff about Black folks," said the political analyst.

"They're trying hard to reach Black folks and I just don't think they understand, we didn't miss the fact that the Republican Party of Lincoln, a party that started as a radical, anti-slavery party, became a safe haven for some white nationalists that have not been aggressively shown the door yet," he said.

Black Americans are actively engaged in politics, he emphasized — "so people act like we're dumb, like we somehow missed that there are people in the Republican Party who've been unfriendly, you just lose the people in the audience at the door with that."

Jones added that other comments from Ramaswamy "sounds like he's reading stuff that comes out of the cracker-jack box, that he thinks somebody's going to like, but there's no prize at the bottom."

"It's all shallow and soulless to me, but that's just my view," Jones finished.

This is the second night in a row where Jones unleashed on the GOP convention for trying too hard — unsuccessfully — to court Black voters.

On Monday night, Jones called it "cringey" after watching four Black men — including North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and Reps. Wesley Hunt of Texas and John James of Michigan — talk up Trump during prime time slots on the first day of the convention. On that night, Robinson called Trump the "Braveheart of our time."

Jones said he believes the party has an agenda to attract more Black men, explaining the move.

"There's an opening to get Black men," he said with a laugh, "because of the double-whammy with Black men feeling the economic pain seriously and also feeling some social dislocation with when it comes to gender and feminism and what's going on."

"But this is not it, I'm going to tell you right now," he emphasized. "All four of them sounded like Black people who talk about Black people, but don't talk to Black people. That's how they sounded. My phone's blowing up because it felt so off — it felt so off — in terms of the tone."

Watch the video below or at this link.

'Nope. Nope. Nope': Experts shut down key Trump ally's 'incandescently stupid' pardon plan

A Donald Trump surrogate got shut down when he argued that the New York hush money cover-up convictions could be overturned by President Joe Biden.

Vivek Ramaswamy, rumored to be a potential vice presidential pick for Trump, made the argument on Saturday.

"Can Trump be pardoned by the President for the conviction in NY? Answer: YES," the failed presidential candidate wrote over the weekend. "Here’s why: the New York felony charges directly relied on claims that Trump violated federal law."

ALSO READ: Trump just endorsed this Virginia congressional candidate whose social media isn’t so MAGA

Ramaswamy goes on to argue that "New York prosecuted Trump based on the novel legal theory that he committed a misdemeanor (falsifying business records) 'with the intent to commit' another crime, including violations of federal campaign finance law."

"That means if the alleged federal violation is expunged, the state felony conviction disappears along with it," he claimed. "It’s shocking how far the MSM has gone in the last 24 hours to hide this fact by expressly writing headlines that a pardon is impossible."

Sarah Isgur, a former Trump administration official, chimed in immediately:

"Nope. Nope. Nope. Nothing about this argument is legally or constitutionally sound," the attorney said in response.

Conservative Army Iraq War Veteran Peter Henlein also weighed in on the argument.

"Lol, Vivek is out here telling MAGA the President can pardon someone convicted by the state of New York. Vivek knows his explanation is complete nonsense," Henlein said Saturday. "Vivek knows he is lying. That doesn’t matter to him. Growing his brand is what matters to him."

University of Texas law professor Lee Kovarsky said the argument ''is so incandescently stupid, and its incandescent stupidity reflects REALLY poorly on the Wall Street Journal's ed board's decision to publish."

"I bet you a lot of money you that there is not a *single* crim scholar that endorses this dumbass idea," the expert added. "The way it actually works is that you'd get the pardon for the first jurisdiction and then see if you could get the second jurisdiction to vacate the conviction. Clemency power isn't cross-jurisdictional. But hey, just listen to Vivek, he went to Harvard or something."

Vivek Ramaswamy says he won't spend any money to help Trump campaign: report

Vivek Ramaswamy gave a ringing endorsement to former President Donald Trump, now the presumptive nominee, when he dropped out of the presidential contest. But it appears there is a hard limit on that support.

According to The Daily Beast, when Ramaswamy — businessman who staked his campaign on eliminating "wokeness" and downsizing the federal government — was asked on Fox News whether he would donate to the Trump election effort, he appeared to shut the door on that possibility.

“You’re a very successful businessman—a biotech entrepreneur — and you’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars. We’re told that Donald Trump has asked Elon Musk for some support. I don’t know if that’s true or not. Elon Musk made it clear that he’s not giving to either Joe Biden or Donald Trump,” said anchor Neil Cavuto. “I’m just wondering, if he were to go to you and say, ‘All right, can you loan my campaign some money?’ What would you say?”

ALSO READ: Fresh scrutiny for Marjorie Taylor Greene after election violation

Ramaswamy replied, “So look, Donald Trump is not in need of anybody else’s help or anything else. He’s in the pole position to do this well.”

When Cavuto pointed out that Trump's campaign was in fact flat broke, Ramaswamy said, “The beauty of this is you have grassroots supporters. That’s actually been the character of the America First movement. It isn’t a movement of just big check writers, as it is for much of the Democratic Party and the establishment wing of the Republican Party. Say no to the politics of yesterday. Say no to the puppetry. The beauty of that America First movement, including what propelled Donald Trump and the America First movement forward, was a bottom-up uprising.”

All of this comes at a moment when not only is the Trump campaign and its PACs facing financial difficulties, but the army of groups that sprung up to help investigate election conspiracy theories have plowed through their funds as well.