Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy made headlines during his recent speech at New England College when he took a unique approach to engage with a protester outside the venue. Ramaswamy temporarily paused the town hall meeting and extended an invitation to the protester to come inside and voice his opinions. He said, “Would you like to join us? I noticed you were very vocal. You’re welcome. You don’t have to be outside; you are allowed in.”
Ramaswamy went a step further, telling the protester that he could even bring protest signs if he wished, stating, “Who needs the signs when you have the voice? Come on, and we will give you a chance to ask questions like everybody else.”
Earlier in the week, Ramaswamy had strongly criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request for additional financial support from the United States to conduct elections in their conflict-affected nation. The 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur confidently asserted that he is in the process of securing the party’s nomination for the 2024 presidential elections.
In an interview with Fox News, Ramaswamy defended his previous statement, where he expressed his intention to reduce aid to Ukraine if he were to be elected as the President of the United States. He emphasized, “I have a problem with appeasement too, but I want to be very clear. We have to level with the American people here. Just because Putin is an evil dictator – and he is – does not mean that Ukraine is good.”
Ramaswamy further criticized Ukraine, pointing out that it had banned 11 opposition parties, consolidated all media into one state media arm, and highlighted instances where its president praised a Nazi in his own ranks. He also mentioned Ukraine’s threat to the United States regarding holding its own normal elections unless it receives more funding.
In a related development from September, Vivek Ramaswamy reaffirmed a proposition originally suggested by former President Donald Trump in 2015 regarding the termination of birthright citizenship in the United States. During an interview with Univision host Ilia Calderón, Ramaswamy addressed the question of what legal premise he would use to expel undocumented immigrants and their American-born children from the country. He expressed his intent to end “birthright citizenship for the kids of illegal immigrants in this country,” going a step further than some of his opponents in the Republican race by advocating for this policy change.