Vivek Ramaswamy might be the GOP presidential hopeful, who has made waves in the Republican primaries, but the billionaire-turned-politician can’t still get people in his country to pronounce his name correctly. In an interview with English broadcaster Piers Morgan, Ramaswamy said that people could not pronounce his name until “two weeks ago”.
Piers Morgan too admitted that he learnt to say Ramaswamy’s name correctly only recently. “First of all, apologies, I have always called you ‘Vivak’ and you very kindly corrected us all and you said you are ‘Vivek’ as in ‘cake’,” said Morgan, welcoming the presidential hopeful in his show ‘Piers Morgan Uncensored’.
“That’s correct, I appreciate best efforts but I usually save the airtime for substance but thank you, I appreciate it,” replied Ramaswamy with a smile, without indulging further on the remark.
Ramaswamy has often been on the receiving end of racist remarks. Conservative commentator Ann Coulter recently faced a lot of flak for her comment on “Hindu business” she made in reference to Ramaswamy and fellow GOP presidential nominee Nikki Haley. “Nikki and Vivek are involved in some Hindu business, it seems. Not our fight,” she said.
Before that, anti-choice activist Abby Johnson, said in a conservative Christian programme that Ramaswamy is not the right guy because he is a Hindu. “Satan is the author of confusion and we know that. Right now, the battle is coming for the presidential nomination. And there’s a man who is gaining traction right now as the presidential nominee and his name is Vivek Ramaswamy…and he is Hindu. And those who are Hindu believe in many gods,” she had said in the show, prompting social media users to question her comments and the connection with being a Hindu and a leader.
He told Piers Morgan in the interview that people say that he started with a 0 per cent in March. “Nope, I started at 0.0 per cent in March,” he said. “I am now a solid second or third in nearly every national poll that’s coming out. And many people in this country didn’t even know who I was six months ago…Most people couldn’t pronounce my name until two weeks ago. So, the fact of the matter is that we are on our way up and I am still introducing myself to the country,” he said.
“I am 38 years old. I am the youngest person ever to run for the US President as a Republican. It appears we are reaching the next generation in droves…we are reviving national pride among young Americans,” said Vivek Ramaswamy about his journey so far.
Speaking on Donald Trump, Ramaswamy told Piers Morgan that he thinks Trump was an “excellent president”. He said that, however, he could deliver something that Trump could not – national unity. He said that he agrees with Trump on 90 per cent of the policy areas and that he respects his accomplishments. “But there is more to a president than just being a policy book in a binder,” said Ramaswamy, adding that he hopes Trump becomes his advisor or mentor for his first year in office.
When asked about the “unfriendly fire” that he would face as a potential presidential candidate and said that he was “fine with it” and that it is “part of the process”. “We jumped into this race early on, going in eyes wide open, knowing that politics is a dirty sport…it is filled with falsehoods…to tell you the truth if I am asking the people of this country to ask me to represent US across the table from Xi Jinping, I better be able to sit across the table from other candidates, or left-wing media or anybody else. So, we are doing just fine with it. I want to focus on what we can achieve for this country…shutting down the administrative state, keeping us out of World War 3, declaring independence from China, growing the economy, reviving national pride…these are my actual focus areas, not some side-attacks I really could care less for,” he said.
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