Ramaswamy Outs Nikki Haley
Due to his brilliant strategic choice to skip the boring and irrelevant Republican debates, Donald Trump has avoided the vicious, petty and childish personal attacks that have characterized the past three events. In his absence, the most intense exchanges have occurred between Vivek Ramaswamy and the other candidates, most notably Nikki Haley.
This shouldn’t surprise anyone since Ramaswamy unabashedly defends Trump and is reflective of the MAGA, America First agenda Trump espouses. However, when Ramaswamy speaks, it’s the generational issues he raises that so rankle the Republican establishment. In essence, he represents a new generation of conservatives that want nothing to do with the traditional policies of the past, especially when it comes to foreign affairs.
The uneasy bridge that connects the past with the future had shown cracks and fissures during the first two debates, but it collapsed completely on Wednesday night.
When asked why he should be the nominee, Ramaswamy spoke forcefully about a “cancer” in the Republican party that resulted in election losses in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023. He called for the resignation of Ronna McDaniel, the head of the Republican National Committee, who has served since 2017 as a representative of the donor class. Turning his attention to the media, Ramaswamy unleashed a scorching attack on McDaniel for scheduling a debate on NBC, wondering out loud if anyone could envision a Democratic debate hosted by Greg Gutfeld.
Haley vs. Ramaswamy SmackDown
Ramaswamy’s aggressive take on the media was only a prelude to his thoughts on Nikki Haley, the Deep State and media establishment’s darling in this election cycle. As I pointed out in an earlier piece, since 1996, every Republican presidential candidate has effectively been a clone of George Bush 1. So, it wasn’t surprising when Ramaswamy called Haley “Dick Cheney in three-inch heels.”
This assessment, which is accurate, comes from Haley’s traditional neocon perspective, which says that any war is a good war as long as it’s forever. Like other neocons before her, Haley profited handsomely from her association with the defense industry. This included joining the board of Boeing, who paid her around $300,000 a year in cash and stock in return for access to government. Aside from speaking engagements, Haley also made a great deal of money by working for a shadowy nonprofit advocacy group called “United Against a Nuclear Iran.” Somehow, since 2017, when Haley had less than $15,000 in assets and $1 million in debt, she has built a sizable fortune of about $12 million.
Several times, Haley has lashed out at Ramaswamy for questioning her ties to the defense industry and suggesting it is the basis of her pro-Ukraine war stance. After remarking that “Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say,” Haley called Ramaswamy “scum” after he referenced her daughter using the TikTok app.
Ramaswamy Reflects the Views of His Base
Over several decades, it’s become apparent the Republican establishment would rather maintain its control over the party and individually benefit financially by cooperating with Democrats instead of pursuing policies that would help ordinary Americans. That’s why neocons support a war in Ukraine that has cost the U.S. over $44 billion with another $70 billion committed. Remember, this is all borrowed money at a time when the interest on the deficit will top $1 trillion this year.
As Ramaswamy points out, Ukraine is a corrupt country that is trying to control regions that overwhelmingly identify with Russia. The tired 1980s argument that “if we let Ukraine fall, Poland will be next,” has been discredited time and again. When Vietnam fell, were the Philippines next? When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, was Pakistan next? The idea that China’s approach to Taiwan will be influenced by the outcome in Ukraine is absurd. If Xi wants to invade Taiwan, he will do so, regardless of how the war in Ukraine ends.
Haley and the other neocons know all this, but they still willingly jeopardize the future of the party for their own personal gain. Republicans have traditionally struggled to attract young people because their platforms rarely reflect the views of that demographic. Ramaswamy is trying to change that by injecting new ideas into the campaign, but more importantly, he’s connecting with younger voters by acknowledging and understanding the pervasive hopelessness reflected in their attitudes toward politics and the U.S. in general.
By outing Nikki Haley as just another party hack that benefited financially and abused her political privilege, Ramaswamy has drawn the ire of the party establishment and the donor class. They would rather lose elections than reflect the will of their constituents.
With that attitude controlling the upper echelons of the party, is there any doubt why we keep losing?
