Trump and Vivek: the falling-out

Headline:

Donald Trump Just Threw Vivek Ramaswamy Under the Bus

Vivek Ramaswamy has been one of the more interesting candidates in the 2024 Republican primary. Once a staunch critic of January 6th and a supporter of COVID-19 surveillance apps, the businessman reinvented himself as a conservative firebrand. More importantly for his popularity, he has run a campaign that has gone out of its way to be supportive of Donald Trump.

Because of that, Ramaswamy has earned the praise of much of the former president's influencer network, including those connected to organizations like TPUSA and CPAC. He's often been cited as the premier example of how to run against Trump (as opposed to Ron DeSantis, at least in their telling). Whether that's because they truly believe that or they just don't see Ramaswamy as a real threat, I'll let others decide.

That honeymoon period has come to an end, though. Trump has decided to speak up on the issue, and he's firmly for tossing Ramaswamy under the bus.

🚨New: President Trump makes a new statement on Vivek Ramaswamy. pic.twitter.com/yjr5SgwqOh

— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) January 13, 2024

Ramaswamy has been overly complimentary and defensive of Trump the entire primary. So much so that some might read that post from the former president and be surprised. I understand exactly why it was posted, though.

Trump knows that Ramaswamy draws from the same voter pool he is counting on to cruise to a win in the primary. At some point, the businessman was going to outlive his usefulness as a quasi-ally. Was this prompted by some internal indication that Iowa might be closer than expected, causing Trump to feel he has to shore things up? That's certainly possible, but whatever the reason, it seems he decided it was time to tell his voters to stop playing footsy with Ramaswamy.

Bigger picture, this was always going to happen. It was just a matter of time. Trump doesn't keep people around past their sell-by date, and Ramaswamy was naive to think he'd ever be able to sidle up beside the former president without receiving some incoming. The businessman flew too close to the sun, and while it was fun while it lasted, he was never going to be allowed to run as the successor to Trump without express written permission from the man himself.

Vivek's campaign has been doomed for a while, but people are noting that Vivek has done more events in Iowa than all the remaining candidates combined, so it's likely that Trump does indeed see Vivek as a threat... in Iowa, at least. Too bad for Vivek, I guess, but as the above-quoted article says, this was bound to happen. Everyone is racing to the top, so serious competitors can't stay friends for long. The article goes on to suggest that Vivek will probably not retaliate against Trump, but I'd be interested to see what retaliation might look like. Neither Vivek nor The Donald has been entirely consistent in terms of policies and seeming convictions, so there's plenty that each could say about the other. One question that has dogged Vivek has been his sincerity: a lot of regular citizens come away thinking his answers are too pat, too crafted, too clever by half. I mentioned early on that I thought Vivek, as a super-educated nerd-boy, might have trouble resonating with the regular hoi polloi. I don't see Vivek as insincere so much as learning along the way, which has resulted in his having changed his stance on some matters. The real question is whether, over the coming years, he'll prove to be more of a flip-flopper, an unprincipled weather vane, a Clintonian triangulator. Evolving over time isn't necessarily a bad thing; having bedrock principles isn't bad, either. Both tendencies can be taken to extremes, though: a "serial evolver" can end up seeming spineless, and a ruthlessly principled person can end up looking incapable of changing with the times and meeting new demands. It's a fine line to walk. Overall, I suspect Vivek has a better chance in 2028, and he may have to forge ahead without Trump's support. In a Trumpless field of competitors, I'd feel confident voting for Vivek.