Vivek Ramaswamy Hypnotizing the Republican Voters

 Nadene Goldfoot                                     

Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republicans newest bid to the presidency, is a former biotech executive that's only 38 years old,  getting a lot of attention after the first Republican Debate Wednesday night.  A lot of time was spent debating against Nikki Haley, another child of Indian immigrants  who defended Israel against his outlandish statements.  

He must think that the American public can't add 2 plus 2 and get 4, because he's getting nowhere with his figuring that he can say anything nice, even if it doesn't add up,  and get away with it. 

The best defender of Israel we have in the USA right now is Nikki Haley.  She's even had all the practice in the world at the UN.  She's the one who studied and learned about the situation.  No one handed her a crutch with a few facts on  it.  She understands.  

 

He wants to stop funding Israel.  Yet he's trying to convince us that he is a friend of Israel.  Israel doesn't need friends to drink tea with.  She needs money as a show of friendship, because she's surrounded by the most dangerous neighborhood in the world and needs the money for security to produce national security for her population, a population who's on the endangered list, by the way, or should be.  A lot of the money invested in helping Israel goes right back to the USA, and it's not a wasted investment.  

Vivek comes from a background where he was raised as a Hindu but attended a Catholic High School. He's never learned about the Middle East, evidently.  He was born in Ohio and raised in the USA, though, even attended Yale.  He's a multimillionaire with plenty of friends, I bet.   In 2023 the business magazine Forbes estimated Ramaswamy's wealth at $630 million.  You have to be at least 35 to run for President and he just made it at 38, but that doesn't give him much time to study our history and democracy when his profession is not within these areas. He's running for a job not in his area of expertise.   

"Ramaswamy has been a fierce defender of Trump while seeking to appeal to Christian evangelicals, an important part of the Republican primary electorate. Although a Hindu, Ramaswamy has been telling voters that the U.S. is based on "Christian values" and "Judeo-Christian values" and has described himself as an American nationalist."  

He's playing all sides to get votes, and is planning on getting the Trump voters this way.  He also used a line right out of Obama's election running days and that was mentioned by the commentator. What did Ramaswamy say during the debate? These were Ramaswamy's words. "First let me just address the question that is on everybody's minds at home tonight. Who the heck is this skinny guy with funny last name and what the heck is doing in the middle of this debate stage," he said.

 We don't know what values he has when he tells us he likes it all.  Trump did that, too, and many of us saw through it when he refused to condemn certain groups but found excuses for them.  They meant votes to Trump and he wasn't about to lose a one.  That was before he used the phone in trying to talk himself into receiving only....more votes that he needed from the person on the other end.

Haley lashed out at Ramaswamy over his recent suggestion that he would cut American aid to Israel if elected.It was the longest conversation about Jewish issues all evening, and brought increased visibility to a topic that, after decades of being a political third rail, has come under discussion on both sides of the aisle.

 Ramswamy defended his position while asserting that he considered Israel a “friend.”

US Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) speaks as former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum listen at the first Republican candidates' debate of the 2024 US presidential campaign in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US August 23, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/BRIAN SNYDER)

“He wants to go and stop funding Israel,” Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, said about Ramaswamy, referring to the rising political neophyte’s promise to cut aid to the country after the current funding deal, which gives Israel $3.8 billion annually, expires in 2028.

In response, Ramaswamy sought to clarify his stance on Israel without backing down from his position. 

“Our relationship with Israel will never be stronger than by the end of my first term,” he said. “But it’s not a client relationship, it is a friendship. And you know what friends do? Friends help each other stand on their own two feet.”  So, according to Ramaswamy, you don't help financially when you're the most powerful country in the world.  He and we have a different definition of country to country friendship.  

Ramaswamy went on to reiterate his previous pledge to “lead Abraham Accords 2.0,” referring to the 2020 normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab states, by getting other Middle Eastern countries to establish relations with Israel. He added that he would “make sure Iran never is nuclear-armed.”  Empty promises, that he can't fulfill and has no idea of how to do it in the first place.  I think Israel has heard many empty promises before.  The one thing that Trump did fulfill that many previous presidents also promised and didn't come through was getting the embassy of the USA in Jerusalem -moving it from Tel Aviv.  We can thank Jerad Kushner, his son in law, for that.  

He also readily rattled off a list of things he said “I love” about Israel, including “their border policies,” “their tough on crime policies,” their “national identity” and “an Iron Dome to protect their homeland” — the latter of which, a missile defense system, is partially funded by US military aid. Yet with all this admiration for Israel, he's not budging from his stand of no money for Israel, cutting much needed ties in our relationship.  

                                                         

But Haley shot back. “He wants to stop funding Israel. You don’t do that to your friends,” she retorted. “It’s not that Israel needs America. America needs Israel.” The daughter of Indian immigrants and the former governor of South Carolina, Haley served as UN ambassador for the first two years of Trump's term, often spearheading the president's foreign policy decisions, including the embassy move to Jerusalem in violation of international law as the UN defined it.

                                                    

The exchange may have helped both candidates stand out. It was a familiar position for the former ambassador to take. Haley, who is trailing Ramaswamy in the polls, built a close relationship with Israel (and with the American pro-Israel establishment), and was known for her vocal defense of the country at the United Nations.   Haley was the ambassador to Israel from the USA and defended Israel against all the others who bashed her unashamedly.  She put them in their place with real facts.  She knows the history inside and out.  She did a better job that any previous ambassadors.  Nimarata Nikki Haley (née Randhawa; born January 20, 1972) is an American politician and former diplomat who served as the 116th governor of South Carolina, elected in 2010 and again in 2014, and as the 29th United States ambassador to the United Nations for two years, from January 2017 through December 2018.

Ramaswamy, by comparison, is an untested quantity in the Israel debate, and his stance on aid differs from the mainstream Republican position, which supports military funding for Israel. Yet during the debate he bragged about his multiple visits to the country, and he has strong ties with a Jewish society at Yale University. 

Shmully Hecht is the Rabbinical Advisor of Shabtai; the Jewish society at Yale University. In 1997, Hecht co-founded Shabtai, which encourages its membership to become true Jewish leaders, both within their communities as well as in the business world. Hecht is published regularly by the Washington Post, New York Daily News, Yale Daily News, First Things and others.

The society’s co-founder, Rabbi Shmully Hecht, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Ramaswamy “is the most pro-Israel candidate running for president of the United States.” Rabbi, how can you think this when Ramaswamy simply will not be truthful  and encompasses all the reasons others admire Israel when he openly states he wouldn't add any shekels to their financial aid.  He's two-faced and feels he doesn't even have to fool anyone about it.  He says something nice, then stabs Israel in the back.  Vivek is clever, knowing how to take in a young rabbi.  

At least Haley, who's heard it all at the UN, saw through his disguise of being a friend.  

Other Republicans on the stage declined to weigh in on Haley and Ramaswamy’s dispute, though several of them have built up their pro-Israel bonafides and one, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, sported a dual US-Israel flag pin on his lapel.  

Another serious item he doesn't understand is Ukraine.  He opposes NATO membership for Ukraine and has said Kiev should make concessions to Russia to end the war, including allowing it to retain parts of Ukraine it already occupies.  Ukraine has enough to worry about let alone a meshugana possiblitiy of a new president who knows nothing.  

It should be more than just being a millionaire as reason to get votes.  It should be intelligence in the field of politics and history. Our country is not a tech company and cannot be run the same way.  Showing a profit is but one skill needed-not the only one.  That's what he seems to be intending to do, cutting everything we spend money on world-ly to help keep world peace.  With an emperor like that, usually the coins find their way to the emperor's  pockets. Oh yes, I noticed all the things he lists as things he will do...no mention of the 3 parts of our Democracy.     

Resource:

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/who-is-vivek-ramaswamy-republican-presidential-hopeful-2023-08-23/

https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/article-755976

https://www.wionews.com/world/fact-check-did-vivek-ramaswamy-steal-obamas-speech-during-republican-debate-629117