How Vivek Ramaswamy thinks hes got Trump & DeSantis beat

Published: April 7, 2023, 9 a.m.

The 2024 Republican presidential primary is off to a bit of a slow start.\nDonald Trump and former governors Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson have entered the race, but other likely candidates, such as Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence, are still sitting on the sidelines.\nAlmost every Republican senator who flirted with the idea seems likely to pass, with the notable exception of Tim Scott, who\u2019s been making stops in Iowa and New Hampshire.\nInto this vacuum has come Vivek Ramaswamy, who stated his intentions in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. He declared that he was running to forge \u201can inspiring national identity that dilutes the woke agenda to irrelevance.\u201d\nIn a subsequent interview with POLITICO\u2019s Daniel Lippman, Vivek added that, \u201cThe GOP has a historic opportunity to answer the question of what it means to be an American.\u201d\xa0\nYou probably don\u2019t know much about Vivek Ramaswamy \u2013 he\u2019s a young entrepreneur from Ohio who\u2019s never run for anything. But there are a few reasons to keep an eye on him:\xa0\n\nHe says he\u2019s willing to spend millions of dollars of an estimated half-billion dollar fortune on the race\xa0\n\nHe\u2019s a regular presence on the Fox News Channel, which is the top information source for Republican primary voters\n\nAnd he seems to be putting together a serious campaign made up of political pros\n\nVivek swears he has a plan to break out of the single digits and take down Donald Trump.\nOn this episode of Playbook Deep Dive, Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza joins Vivek at the restaurant Art & Soul to learn whether he is completely delusional \u2014\xa0 or whether he just might be onto something.\nRyan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.Vivek Ramaswamy is a biotech entrepreneur and Republican presidential contender.\xa0Afra Abdullah is an associate producer for POLITICO audio.Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio.\xa0Alex Keeney is a senior producer for POLITICO audio.Jenny Ament is the executive producer for POLITICO audio.\n\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices