Millionaire entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy cited the potential ability to sabotage Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential aspirations as partial justification for his own run, according to an ABC report released Monday.
The ABC report, titled "'Wanting to be famous': How Vivek Ramaswamy sought podcast stardom prior to White House run," refers to a call Ramaswamy made to a group of conservative operatives earlier this year in which he discussed his "exciting plans" to run for president.
Ramaswamy pitched himself as a candidate who could make serious waves in the Republican primary at the meeting. When met with some skepticism, Ramaswamy argued that his candidacy could also dissuade Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis from entering the race, according to a source who was on the call. In the lead-up to his announcement, Ramaswamy would tell several other conservative activists that he believed that if he ran, it could stop DeSantis from running or impact his viability as a candidate if he did enter the race, sources said.
Is the Ramaswamy campaign an elaborate con on conservatives?https://t.co/QtXkXLN1be pic.twitter.com/D5fiQ7l95q
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) August 21, 2023
The motivation to head off any DeSantis challenge to Trump has long been a suspected motivation for Vivek's campaign. I actually reasoned as much in a Townhall column which, incidentally, was also quoted twice by the ABC article.
So why is Vivek running anyway? Given his already documented sycophantism towards Trump and the fact that he generally has refused to take on the former president directly or even be mildly critical - even though he knows full well that he’d have to ultimately beat Trump to secure the nomination - it’s hard to imagine it’s not for one or both of the following reasons: 1.) To raise his profile and secure some sort of post in the upcoming administration. 2.) To pave the way for a Trump defeat of DeSantis.
Perhaps this would be a good question for DeSantis to ask Ramaswamy during the Wednesday debate.