Debates are won or lost based on personal charisma. Vivek Ramaswamy clearly showed that during the presidential debate on Wednesday night. A lot of what Ramaswamy had to say was questionable particularly when it came to foreign policy and his conflation of the war in Ukraine with the situation along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got high marks from poll watchers with regard to his performance as Florida’s governor; however, it was Ramaswamy who played the role of the insurgent spoiler not unlike Donald Trump in 2016. Ramaswamy’s position on Ukraine was more in line with the post-Trump Republican electorate than others on the stage. A CNN recent poll found that 71% of Republican voters wanted an end to funding the war in Ukraine.
Ramaswamy Energy and Charisma Dominates Debate
Ramaswamy’s energy and charisma led the other candidates on the stage to react to him. Whether Ramaswamy was correct or not on the issues does not seem to matter.
Voters in the Republican Party want people who are from outside of the system. Whether Ramaswamy can govern is debatable and likely problematic considering his background.
DeSantis has struggled to gain traction because Donald Trump has successfully painted him as just another politician and a puppet of other wealthy individuals. Claims that DeSantis is a puppet of the Bushes, former Speaker Paul Ryan, or Karl Rove has hurt him with Trump voters.
“… [T]he reality is, you have a bunch of people, professional politicians, super PAC puppets, following slogans handed over to them by their 400-page super PACs last week. The real choice we face in this primary is this: do you want a super PAC puppet or do you want a patriot who speaks the truth? Do you want incremental reform, which is what you’re hearing about? Or do you want revolution? And I stand on the side of the American Revolution, rather than this incrementalism,” Ramaswamy said.
Vivek Ramaswamy Channeled Trump in Debate
Former President Donald Trump opted to sit out the debate and to have a chat with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. Ramaswamy was bit like a Trump Jr. on the stage. His issues were Trumpian, and so were his positions on them.
Ramaswamy recently said he ran for president with the intention of damaging DeSantis, raising speculation that he could be a stalking horse for the former president who aims to ensure Trump has no real competition.
He brought energy and entertainment value to the stage like Trump did eight years ago. Americans prefer entertainment to substance.
Much of the debate was spent with the other candidates reacting to Ramaswamy.
DeSantis seemed like more of a nonentity in the debate. He was not the center of attention that everyone thought he would be in the days before the debate.
The Florida governor had some strong points, but it was as if he was largely ignored throughout.
When former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie compared Ramaswamy to Barack Obama, Ramaswamy told Christie, who was clearly agitated, to come over and give him a hug like he did with Obama in 2012.
“And you’ll help elect me just like you did to Obama too. Give me that bear hug,” Ramaswamy said.
The entrepreneur billionaire seems more in step with the current GOP. DeSantis has a lot of the right issues; however, he lacks Ramaswamy’s clear charisma and energy. That is something he shares with Trump and could wind up putting him on the Trump ticket in the likely scenario that the former president wins renomination next year.
Style wins over substance in the 21st century. Vivek Ramaswamy fits the bill.
John Rossomando is a defense and counterterrorism analyst and served as Senior Analyst for Counterterrorism at The Investigative Project on Terrorism for eight years. His work has been featured in numerous publications such as The American Thinker, The National Interest, National Review Online, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors first-place award for his reporting.
