Vivek Ramaswamy’s face lit up when his three-year-old son Karthik, who was celebrating his birthday, called to say goodnight.
The entrepreneur, father of two, smiled at the end of another day of his first campaign sweep across Iowa as the newly crowned Republican presidential nominee.
The 37-year-old best-selling author, hedge fund multimillionaire and son of Indian immigrants wants to solve America’s national identity crisis by ending the “secular religion” of “wake-ism”.
Wearing a white button-down with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, Ramaswamy was all business – that is, until the faces of his wife and sons appeared on his phone.
He had just moments to grab a few bites of mac and cheese, fried mushrooms and a Diet Coke before speaking to an enthusiastic crowd waiting to put his signature on their copy of his book Nation of Victims receive.
Aside from his attempt to address “wokeism” and what it means to be American, Ramaswamy revealed he’s also a tennis “fanatic” and was a full-time dad for a few months during the COVID pandemic to keep his Woman it could work in a New York hospital.
Biotech and hedge fund multi-millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy sat down for an interview with on Thursday during his first sweep across Iowa after officially announcing his presidential bid
Ramaswamy interrupted the interview to take an incoming call from his son Karthik, whose 3rd birthday was on Thursday. The candidate’s wife and two sons were scheduled to come to Iowa from Ohio but had to cancel their plans because of the weather
Ramaswamy outlined his vision for the next year in an interview in Iowa to on Thursday, saying he wanted to lay out the “how” to address issues plaguing the nation.
He said 2024 could be the year Americans decide “who” is best to take on this mission.
The self-proclaimed “nerdy kid” didn’t mince words when he spoke about Trump, claiming that while he could identify problems, he felt the former president couldn’t “deliver” meaningful change.
“The first thing I’m a big fan of is giving credit to people where credit is due,” Ramaswamy said earlier in the day in Iowa, speaking to a roomful of 20 business leaders.
“President Trump is actually a friend,” he added. “To be completely honest, I probably wouldn’t have thought of doing what I’m doing now if he hadn’t successfully done what he did in 2015 and 2016 – as a political outsider came, shook up, was in able to say things that other Republican candidates have declined or been unable to say.
“Must give credit where credit is due. He was the OG of America First — and for what it’s worth, I’m also a hard-line American First conservative,” Ramaswamy said. “But the question is – where do we go from here? To put America first, we must first rediscover what America is.”
Cornerstones of Ramaswamy’s agenda include eradicating affirmative action, imposing the same government-level penalties on private entities for censoring political speech, and cementing political expression as a civil right.
The founder of biopharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences and co-founder of Strive Asset Management, who is far more interested in politics and politics than his personal life, said he enjoys playing tennis in his limited blocks of free time.
Ramaswamy woke up early Friday morning in Iowa to play tennis at 5:30 a.m
“I’m a tennis fanatic,” he told .
According to his own statement, the Ohioan-born doesn’t have much time for other leisure activities, but he is a “big Bengals fan”.
“Performance was my ticket to move forward. It’s very personal to me,” he said in his interview with
Ramaswamy greets supporters at the Machine Shed restaurant in Urbandale, Iowa – just a few miles from downtown Des Moines
Ramaswamy received a call from his wife saying their son Karthik wanted to say good night
The candidate’s face lit up when he got the call from his family and asked for a few minutes to speak with them before continuing the interview
Ramaswamy is pictured with his wife Apoorva Tewari Ramaswamy and their two sons Karthik, 3, (left) and Arjun, 7 months (right). The contestant shared that at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two lived apart for three months when their eldest son was only three weeks old because his wife worked in a hospital
Ramaswamy is the son of Indian immigrants and has a younger brother. He went to Harvard for his undergraduate degree and received a JD from Yale Law School
Ramaswamy said some of the cornerstones of his platform are rooting out affirmative action, penalizing private entities for censoring political speech, and cementing political expression as a civil right. He spoke to a room of supporters waiting for their copy of his book to be autographed at the Machine Shed restaurant on the outskirts of Des Moines, Iowa
A roomful of dozens of 2024 primary voters gathered at the Machine Shed restaurant in Urbandale, Iowa — just a few miles from downtown Des Moines — to hear from the lesser-known candidate running just behind Trump and his former ambassador jumped to the UN Nikki Haley.
Iowa remains the state’s first Republican state and has set the tone for decades as the party’s nomination race unfolds.
Democrats have spent the last few years officially moving their first primary competitive state to South Carolina.
Ramaswamy’s wife and two sons were due to be with him in Iowa this week as his eldest son Karthik turned three.
While winter weather prevented his family from coming to see him, the contestant’s son made a video call to his father just before his remarks to say goodnight and get a final “happy birthday” before bed.
The toddler wanted to be shown the people who had gathered during the interview, which Ramaswamy did with the beaming smile of a proud father.
He also has a seven-month-old son named Arjun.
When asked if he could reconcile his life with a presidential election, Ramaswamy, his wife Apoorva, a laryngologist and throat surgeon who specializes in swallowing disorders, “owes me one.”
Just before the outbreak of the pandemic, Apoorva Tewari Ramaswamy gave birth to the couple’s first son, Karthik.
Just weeks into her maternity leave, Ramaswamy said his wife felt a call to help because the New York Presbyterian was understaffed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis.
With the first strain of coronavirus threatening newborns and infants, the couple decided to live apart for three months, starting when their son was less than four weeks old – and Ramaswamy went part-time with his job to take on the role of full-time father .
Ramaswamy spent all day traveling around Iowa, stopping in Accumold to speak with business leaders in Ankeny, Iowa
Ramaswamy answered a few questions from those gathered at the Accumold factory and offices and spoke about how he would deal with Donald Trump’s eventual attribution
“That was the reality,” Ramaswamy told as he sat down to speak at the Machine Shed before his remarks. “We’re there as a family.”
“We support each other in what we need to do in the right places in our lives,” he added. “I kind of see this run as if I’m doing it the other way now.”
Apoorva eventually contracted COVID-19, as did her surgeon father – who was hospitalized for his case.
Ramaswamy said his parents immigrated to the United States from India because they wanted access to better education, both for themselves and for their future children.
The candidate says his Ohio upbringing led him to develop his “ideology of merit.”
“A meritocracy is an ideology that I subscribe to with bone-deep conviction,” Ramaswamy said.
“I was kind of a nerdy kid — academically inclined,” he admitted. “Academics were an important focus of our family household. And they always said if you want to stand out, you might as well stand out.”
“It’s kind of a hackneyed phrase my parents made up, but there’s actually a lot of truth to it,” he mused.
“Performance was my ticket to move forward. It’s deeply personal to me.’
Ramaswamy’s parents immigrated to the United States from Vadakkencherry, Palakkad, Kerala, India. His father worked as an engineer and patent attorney for General Electric while his mother worked as a geriatric psychiatrist.
Flipping the script on liberals who claim conservatives and whites are inherently racist, Ramaswamy said the implementation of “wake up” policies that favor certain races fuel racism in the country.
“If you’re being called a racist today, you’re probably doing something right,” Ramaswamy said. “Because the only reason you’re called a racist is because they want to drive you away from what you set out to achieve.”
“I think racist ‘vigilism’ is one that is likely to cause a deep-seated national division by causing us to see each other only as the genetically inherited traits that we inherited the day we were born,” he continued .
“I think there’s no better way to fuel anti-Black racism in America than by taking something away from another race because of the color of their skin. It’s not just a point against white, anti-Asian racism — it is, but it’s more than that. It’s fueling a new wave of anti-Black racism that wouldn’t exist without the racial preference politics we’ve created.
Ramaswamy was born in 1985 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was a high school senior in 2003 and was nationally ranked as a junior tennis player.
The candidate graduated summa cum laude in biology from Harvard in 2007. In 2013 he received a JD from Yale Law School.
Ramaswamy says academic excellence and achievement have always been important in his home of Cincinnati, Ohio
“I was kind of a nerdy kid – academically inclined,” said Ramaswamy (pictured right as a kid). “Academics were an important focus of our family household. And they always said if you want to stand out, you might as well stand out. It’s kind of a cheesy phrase my parents made up, but there’s actually a lot of truth behind it.
Ramaswamy says his campaign will focus on rooting out affirmative action in America, punishing private companies and entities for censoring political speech, and making political expression a civil right in the United States.
The candidate said the positive action has not been terminated by any other president because they “fear of political backlash”.
“I don’t have this fear of political backlash. I will do it,” Ramaswamy vowed.
The field for the 2024 presidential campaign seems crowded – and speculation has circulated that the candidates will try to outdo each other.
One thing that certainly sets Ramaswamy apart from the rest of the crowd is his age. He’s just two years over the legal running age to run for president — and he’s likely to remain the youngest candidate in the running.
However, he disagrees with Nikki Haley’s suggestion that there should be a mandatory competency test for politicians in federal offices over the age of 75.
“I do not believe that anyone other than voters should decide who gets to govern this country,” Ramaswamy said.
When asked if there should be any litmus tests for the presidency, Ramaswamy said, “As few as possible.”
“John Fetterman shouldn’t be in the U.S. Senate — and under their suggestion, he wouldn’t have been put through a competency test,” he explained, citing the Pennsylvania senator who had a stroke just before his election and is now a volunteer at the Walter Reed Medical Center for inpatient treatment of depression.
“There are people over 75 who can be perfectly competent to run the country,” Ramaswamy added.
“I think it was kind of a cheap 75-year-old pick because Donald Trump happens to be 76, which is one of our competitors,” he continued. “I say this as probably the youngest contestant in this race – if I had to guess it’s going to stay that way – I don’t want to eliminate the competition because of arbitrary top-down rules.”
“Was 75 chosen at random? Would she have said 70 if Donald Trump was 71?’ asked he.
Ramaswamy appeared to deliver a veiled swipe at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during the wide-ranging interview with , in which he claimed that state leaders were good “foot soldiers” in the fight against waking up, but claimed they had themselves fighting the uncommitted and understanding the problem at the level at which he does.
“It’s really fashionable for Republicans to talk about wake-ism,” Ramaswamy said in a frustrated tone. “I don’t think they — you find someone who understands these issues at the level of granularity, like I do, and I’ll be thrilled because I’ve tried to convey that — have been the foundation of leadership for a long time.” , and they’re trying their best.’
“It’s fine at the state level – they can be good foot soldiers in this fight,” he added. “But when you’re talking about national identity revitalization, I think you need someone who deeply understands this and is actually empowered and unafraid to do anything about it.”
Ramaswamy says he is the original anti-Wake candidate and claims he knows more than any other candidate about the granularity of what needs to be done to address the growing problem in the US
DeSantis has famously touted his “anti-woke” agenda in Florida, claiming that his leadership has created a state where “wake to die” is going.
While Florida’s governor has yet to announce a presidential bid, he has begun touring the country while whispering he will be running a principal bid.
Ramaswamy may not be a household name, but he has written three books – one of which is yet to be published – that have garnered him national attention and helped establish him as an icon in conservative circles.
In August 2021, he published Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam, which became an instant New York Times bestseller.
In September 2022 he published his second book, Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence.
Ramaswamy’s third book is due out in April 2023. He said he committed to writing the book before deciding to run for president and said that any content he has published in the past is not part should be viewed on its official platform.
The candidate may not be able to do a full book tour of Capitalist Punishment: How Wall Street Is Using Your Money to Create a Country You Didn’t Vote For because he will be on the campaign trail once it hits shelves.