Republican candidates’ kid gloves toward former President Donald Trump was a friction point for one GOP hopeful pushed to defend his campaign strategy.
“Are you worried about the punch-back…”
(Video: Fox News)
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy’s carefully crafted messages about the top 2024 primary rival was called out Sunday with receipts viewed as contradictory toward his current position. During his appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” host Shannon Bream zeroed in on the notion that Ramaswamy wasn’t actually “running against” Trump.
On the subject of the field frontrunner, the Fox News host ventured, “There’s been a lot of criticism that you’re not taking direct shots at him, that you’re not actually running against him.”
“You’ve talked about that you think that you’d possibly pardon him should you become president. He’s potentially facing another round of federal charges in connection with January 6,” she continued before bringing up remarks from the guest’s past she deemed ran counter to that position.
One example came in the form of a tweet from the week after the U.S. Capitol was breached where Ramaswamy appeared to lay blame on the then-president stating, “What Trump did last week was wrong. Downright abhorrent. Plain and simple. I’ve said it before and did so in my piece.”
What Trump did last week was wrong. Downright abhorrent. Plain and simple. I’ve said it before and did so in my piece.
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) January 12, 2021
Bream also presented a claim from a book authored by the candidate that argued Trump had lost the 2020 election and then used the idea that it had been stolen to raise money from supporters.
“So, why are you and the other candidates now so quick to defend him?” she asked. “Are you worried about the punch-back you would take for him if you’re actually critical of that behavior now?”
By way of defense, Ramaswamy dodged the question in favor of calling out where his record didn’t appear to have discrepancies and argued, “I have been consistent all along that I would have made different judgments than Donald Trump made.”
His ardent support of the president, when it came to the indictments brought by the Manhattan District Attorney and from Special Counsel Jack Smith, was referenced when the candidate elaborated, “But, a bad judgment is not the same thing as a crime and when we conflate the two that sets a dangerous precedent for this country. I don’t want to see us become some banana republic where the party in power uses police force to arrest its political opponents.”
Artfully, Ramaswamy proceeded to work away from the original premise presented by the host that the primary was a contest pitting candidates against one another by suggesting that he wasn’t treating any of his GOP opponents that way. “I’m not even strictly running against Biden. I am running for this country.”
Before moving on to a different subject, Bream reminded, “The reality of a primary is that you do have to convince people to pick you over these other candidates, so we’ll see. I know you are feeling confident about making the debate stage, but that’s where some of these dust-ups will have to happen as you guys try to differentiate from each other.”
That point was not overlooked by the candidate who had only moments earlier boasted about his own position of third in unspecified national polling.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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