Republican primary: Vivek Ramaswamy, neither white nor Christian but 100% anti-woke

He became the rival to be beaten for Ron DeSantis during the first debate of the Republican candidates for the American presidential election, Wednesday August 23. Vivek Ramaswamy has taken a big leap, going in a few weeks from complete political anonymity to third place among the most popular personalities in the conservative camp.

This 38-year-old entrepreneur remains far behind Donald Trump, the ex-president who is leading the polls in the primary on the right. But he is now on the heels of Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida who has long been the only credible alternative to Donald Trump. In most opinion polls, the gap narrowed from more than 10 points to less than 5 points in a few weeks. And one of these polls, published on August 14 by the Kaplan Strategy Institute, even makes Vivek Ramaswamy, for the first time, the new number 2… ahead of Ron DeSantis.

Favorite of Elon Musk?
A political breakthrough that did not escape the American media and observers. He is the new “young prodigy” of the Republican Party for the New York Times, while Vanity Fair evokes a “mini-tsunami” on the right in favor of this son of Indian immigrants.

Even Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, described Vivek Ramaswamy as a “very promising candidate”, Friday August 18. Enough to give cold sweats to Ron DeSantis, even to Donald Trump, both the extravagant multi-billionaire and CEO of X (ex -Twitter) is widely listened to on the right in the United States.

“The Republican Party’s primary debates will surely allow it to gain even more popularity,” said Thomas Gift, director of the North American Policy Research Center at University College London. Vivek Ramaswamy is indeed reputed to be “an excellent orator who has great self-confidence”, writes Vanity Fair in an article presenting this “outsider” as the favorite to win the first debate. In college, he was one of the most feared and popular debaters, points out the Harvard Crimson, the journal of the famous faculty.

But it is not (only) his art of rhetoric that has allowed him to carve out a place for himself in the very crowded landscape of the 14 candidates in the Republican primary. Nor even his brief career as a rapper under the nickname “Da Vek” which he likes to recall during interviews. His main asset is his personal fortune, estimated at several hundred million dollars.

Before politics, this graduate of the prestigious universities of Harvard and Yale was a successful entrepreneur in the field of biotech. He founded Roivant Sciences, a start-up in the pharmaceutical sector which notably tried, and failed, to launch a drug to treat Alzheimer’s.

Vivek Ramaswamy has already been able to “inject more than 15 million dollars from his personal fortune into his campaign, which has allowed him to buy a place on the political spectrum”, summarizes Anurag Mishra, specialist in American politics. at the International Team for the Study of Security (ITSS) Verona.

Obsessed with wokism
His total lack of political experience does not represent a handicap in the eyes of Republican voters, quite the contrary. Just like Donald Trump in 2016, “Vivek Ramaswamy can play the ‘outsider’ card, which brings a little freshness against candidates who have been in the political fold for decades, such as Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley or Chris Christie”, says Anurag Mishra.

If he represents new and young blood on the right, he also embodies the “American dream”, so dear to part of the conservative electorate. “It is the son of immigrants from the Third World who becomes a multimillionaire in the United States. In terms of form, Vivek Ramaswamy ticks all the boxes to please the right-wing voter”, assures Anurag Mishra.

And on the bottom? The main battle horse of this entrepreneur is the war against what he calls “wokism”. A term which, for him, designates the ideology of all those who would be “obsessed with questions of gender, race and social justice”, specifies the New York Times.

Vivek Ramaswamy thus embodies the candidate of “the most unbridled anti-Wokism”, underlines Thomas Gift. He has even written several books in which he describes himself as “the CEO of anti-woke Inc.”, points out the New Yorker. A way, moreover, to pull the rug out from under the feet of Ron DeSantis, another self-proclaimed great destroyer of wokism.

This fixed idea has allowed Vivek Ramaswamy to be a recurring guest on Fox News, the number 1 news channel for the American right-wing electorate which also hunts wokism at length of shows.

Fox News listed a dozen public bodies that would be sacrificed on the altar of the least state revered by Vivek Ramaswamy. “He is thus part of the great tradition of American Republicans who have always campaigned to reduce the role of government”, notes Anurag Mishra.

Too Hindu for the American Right?

For the rest, this third man on the right adheres to Donald Trump’s program on taxation, immigration or even arms control. But “he uses less aggressive rhetoric than that of the ex-president”, underlines Anurag Mishra. Nevertheless, his ideas are anchored very to the right: he wants, for example, to bring in the army on American soil to ensure security at the Mexican border.

But Vivek Ramaswamy entered the political battle with serious handicaps. Starting with the fact that he “is neither white nor Christian”, points out Anurag Mishra. He claims his attachment to the Hindu religion, a snake very difficult to swallow for the Republican Party “which is often associated with the evangelical movement [attached to Protestantism]”, recalls the political scientist.

In this sense, it is already a miracle that Vivek Ramaswamy has managed to almost evenly match Ron DeSantis in the polls of the Republican electorate.

The other obstacle in the way of this ambitious man is Donald Trump. The ex-president retains such a lead in the polls over his competitors that “the only chance for Vivek Ramaswamy would be for a court to declare Donald Trump ineligible in 2024,” said Anurag Mishra.

This is probably why Vivek Ramaswamy is careful not to attack Donald Trump, unlike Ron DeSantis. Perhaps hoping to become the future vice-president in the event of the second term of the former American president. At 38, he is less in a hurry than others to become president.

This article is originally published on france24.com