Slick young Republican candidate ‘won’t be a VP’
The party buzz is less about Ron DeSantis than Vivek Ramaswamy, a self-made multi-millionaire who has risen to third in poll ratings.
A self-made multi-millionaire who is the youngest Republican presidential hopeful is determined to show he is the standard bearer for the future of the party during tomorrow’s debate between the “best of the rest”.
The buzz among party supporters in early primary states is less about Ron DeSantis than Vivek Ramaswamy, a slick biotech entrepreneur who has risen to third in poll ratings.
Ramaswamy, 38, is being talked of by some as a running-mate for Trump but has consistently said he has eyes only for the top job, positioning himself to the right of the former president with an anti-woke, small-government, isolationist agenda.
His net worth hit $US1bn briefly last week thanks to the rising share price of Roivant Sciences, the drug-development company he took public in 2021.
He has a 10 per cent stake worth about $600m. He also has a large stake in the “anti-woke” fund provider Strive Asset Management valued at $300m, and a large investment portfolio.
Unlike Trump, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at $2.5bn, Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants, is entirely self-made.
Born in Cincinnati, he has degrees from Harvard and Yale and built his political reputation attacking corporate America’s obsession with social justice matters, writing a book called Woke, Inc. in 2021.
Ramaswamy has won over audiences with charismatic stage performances in which he takes on critics and pushes an agenda building on Trump’s America First platform.
He has called for an end to American funding for Ukraine, warning that it will drive Russia into the arms of China.
Ramaswamy has picked up support from Trump supporters looking to the next generation by pledging to pardon the former president.
His pitch is to complete Trump’s goal to “drain the swamp” by defunding the FBI and United Nations, and abolishing the Department of Education.
Ramaswamy said at the weekend that he would reject an offer to become running-mate for the former president: “Donald Trump and I share something in common and that is that neither of us would do well in a No 2 position.”
The Times
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