We can all see why Vivek Ramaswamy will remain in the 2024 race despite former President Donald Trump’s mountainous lead in the primary polls. He’s a billionaire with excellent communication skills. While not spectacular, his polling will permit him to remain on the debate stage. Some see him as a con man—they may be right—but Vivek’s moment is partially due to both parties' corruption that we all see in the DC swamp. If Democrats and Republicans continue to say one thing and do another, the Donald Trumps and Vivek Ramaswamys will remain woven into our political fabric.
Yet, there’s been some controversy about Vice President Mike Pence’s role on January 6 and whether he should have refused to certify the results. I don’t want to get dragged into that mud pit again. Still, even Ramaswamy says he, like Pence, would have certified the 2020 election results but got a slight jab at the vice president for missing a prime opportunity to pass election integrity reforms. The billionaire said he would have tried to codify those initiatives before signing off on the 2020 election (via NBC News):
Asked by NBC News' Chuck Todd if Pence did the right thing on Jan. 6 by certifying the results of the election in an interview on "Meet the Press," Ramaswamy said: “I would have done it very differently. I think that there was a historic opportunity that he missed, to reunite this country in that window.”
"What I would have said is: This is a moment for a true national consensus where there's two elements of what's required for a functioning democracy in America," he said. “One is secure elections, and the second is a peaceful transfer of power. When those things come into conflict, that’s an opportunity for heroism.”
Ramaswamy said if he was in Pence's position, he would have pushed reforms through Congress before he certified the election results.
“Here’s what I would have said: ‘We need single day voting on Election Day, we need paper ballots and we need government issued ID matching the voter file.’ And if we achieve that, then we have achieved victory and we should not have any further complaint about election integrity. I would have driven it through the Senate," he said.
“In my capacity as President of the Senate, I would have led through that level of reform, then on that condition certified the election results, served it up to the president — President Trump — then to sign that into law. And on January 7th, declared the re-election campaign pursuant to a free and fair election,” he said. “I think that was a missed opportunity."
Hindsight is 20/20, but let’s drop this fiction that these reforms would have passed, given the political situation unraveling at the time. Democrats weren’t going along with this, and we probably wouldn’t have cobbled together the votes because, you know more than a few squishy Republicans would have sided with them. This election wasn’t like the 2000 election, where things were razor-thin, and all attention was focused on just one state, Florida.
But I’m sure this will resonate with some people. The election Integrity reforms: I can get behind 100 percent, but let’s win this election instead of playing would, could, or should regarding 2020.