The Anti-Woke Candidate

VIVEK GANAPATHY Ramaswamy announced his candidature for the US presidency on February 21. Practically no one had heard of him in India. Even in America, the usual response was “Vivek Ramaswamy who?” Apart from initial news reports, his candidacy drew a blank in the country of his parents’ origin. I must modestly remind my readers that I was probably the first in India, just over a month later, to write a full two-page column on him in these very pages (‘An Indian inside the American Dream’, April 10, 2023).

Ramaswamy is the first person of Indian origin, in addition to being a born and practising Hindu, to run for the office of the president of the US. Campaigning to win the nomination of the Republican or the Grand Old Party, he is a self-proclaimed conservative and “American nationalist”. At 37, he is also the youngest person to enter the fray in the history of the US. In addition, he is a Harvard-educated and self-made billionaire, with a current net worth estimated by Forbes to be over $600 million.

All these facts are attractive enough.

But what really drew my attention was that he is an author and an articulate speaker. I covered aspects of his writing in my column. Ramaswamy attained fame as an author with a bold bestseller, Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam (2021). The New Yorker called him “The C.E.O. of Anti-Woke, Inc.” The New York Times, America’s oldest and most prestigious liberal daily, followed this up by labelling him “A Wealthy ‘Anti-Woke’ Activist.” No wonder the moniker “Anti-Woke” seems to have stuck.

Last year, Ramaswamy published his second book, Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence, reiterating his commitment to make America great by once again taking the nation back to its core values. Continuing his campaign against what he believes to the colossal vacuum in American society by the loss of both national and individual purpose, Ramaswamy came up with his third tome, Capitalist Punishment: How Wall Street Is Using Your Money to Create a Country You Didn’t Vote For.

If what Ramaswamy stands for can be summed up in one quotation, I would go with this one: “The most fundamental divide of our time is not black vs white, gay vs straight, or even Democrat vs Republican. It is the Great Reset vs the Great Uprising. Aristocracy vs sovereignty. Self-governance vs monarchy. This is a transpartisan & transnational struggle.” Obviously, the great reset that he stands for goes against most of the left-liberal slogans and shibboleths that we have been inundated with over the past decade or so.

I am returning to Ramaswamy partly because according to last month’s CBS News/YouGov survey, he “gets about a third of voters saying they might consider him but haven’t heard enough and a third saying he might beat Biden.” Former President Donald Trump continues to lead the rankings, followed by Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida. African American business and junior Senator from South Carolina, Tim Eugene Scott, comes a “distant third” in this survey.

Other more recent polls, such as by Echelon Insights, released in early July also “found Trump as the frontrunner at 49 percent while DeSantis notched 16 percent in second place and Ramaswamy 10 percent in third” (https://tinyurl. com/bpapje87). Ramaswamy’s narrowing DeSantis’ lead to just six points is hugely significant.

The Echelon Insights survey, in addition, is revealing for many other reasons. It offers signposts to the shifting mood in the US over major issues. For example, only 25 per cent of those polled believed their country was on the right track, while a whopping 67 per cent said it was on the wrong track. Those unsure were only 8 per cent. On the “Favorability Battery” question (“Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of the following groups or individuals who have been in the news lately?”), only Democratic candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has 46 per cent favourable to 24 per cent votes, polled higher than Republican Ramaswamy, who was favoured by 31 per cent of those polled as opposed to 14 per cent who were unfavourably disposed to him. All the other famous politicians, including Nikki Haley, DeSantis, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and Mike Pence had more unfavourable than favourable votes. Worse, both the Democratic and the Republican parties were viewed more unfavourably than favourably by those polled.

It is too early to speculate what will happen as the race heats up and we approach the results of the primaries. But Ramaswamy seems to have struck a sympathetic chord among the voters, channelling their dissatisfaction and unhappiness with the present situation. He may even have captured the zeitgeist with his courageous stance against the woke brigade and the cancel culture that seems to rule the roost. Not surprisingly, the tagline on his website is ‘Courage is Contagious’ followed by the declaration “This is more than a campaign, it’s a cultural movement. We want to share our ideas far and wide”. What is more, he returns calls and responds positively to almost every interview request.

If a white American said even a fraction of the things Ramaswamy has publicly proclaimed, he would immediately run the risk of being denounced as a racist or white supremacist. But coming from Ramaswamy, himself a person of colour, a child of immigrants, and someone who comes from a minority religious tradition, such views and the person voicing them become harder to take down. Of course, Ramaswamy has already been denounced as “white adjacent” or the beneficiary of “white” privileges, but that hasn’t deterred him as of now.

To return to the surveys, Trump remains the frontrunner among the Republican candidates. His multiple indictments do not seem to have dented his popularity or winnability. Six out of 10 Republicans polled believe that he would “definitely” defeat Joe Biden in the presidential race. Vis-à-vis Trump, Ramaswamy has played his cards deftly. He has openly supported some of Trump’s policies, which is a smart way to earn brownie points with Republican voters. Trump himself has gone to the extent of praising Ramaswamy although some believe that this is only a way to undermine his nearest rival, DeSantis.

It is difficult to predict how the primaries will play out. But what is astonishing and unprecedented is that there are Indian candidates vying for a place on the ballot on both sides of the American political divide. While Kamala Harris has not been able to capitalise on being the vice president of America, Ramaswamy may well be the dark horse who pips DeSantis to come up second to Trump, thus earning his right to be the fittest candidate to be the latter’s running mate.

But what happens if Trump is legally disqualified? If that happens, all bets are off. Will Ramaswamy’s chances improve or worsen? Whether DeSantis will become the Republicans’ choice for the top job remains uncertain. It is unlikely that Ramaswamy will come first in the race to be the Republican nominee, but being an outsider to Washington, as Trump himself was, certainly goes in his favour. He may be well placed to be the Republican vice presidential candidate if their presidential nominee is either former President Trump or a career politician and governor of a major state as DeSantis is of Florida.

So where does all this leave us? What are Ramaswamy’s real chances in the GOP presidential race? The answer will depend on the manner in which the dynamics of American politics shapes up in the coming months. Right now, Ramaswamy’s policy positions, name recognition, fundraising capabilities, and ability to connect with voters place him firmly on track to becoming if not a serious contender then certainly a winnable running mate to whoever gets the Republican presidential nomination.

Whatever the outcome, Ramaswamy’s ‘anti-Woke’ platform puts him in the eye of the storm. Has he been able to capture and articulate the undertow of the prevailing political unrest and public disaffection? He may well succeed in his gambit to appeal to voters who feel that certain so-called progressive ideas have gone too far, to the point of dividing if not destroying American society. Those who seek to return to more enduring and traditional American values may well find this successful son of Indian immigrants as their best champion.

American politicsDeSantisDonald TrumpFloridaRepublicansVivek Ramaswamy