Iowa proved to be exactly what most people expected — a landslide for Trump, a close battle between Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, and a wash for Vivek Ramaswamy.
It’s fair to say that most people — at least those closely following the election — expected Ramaswamy to drop out, and almost no one cared when he did. Most political commentators moved on to far more important fish (The American Spectator’s Scott McKay, for instance, wrote an excellent analysis on why DeSantis should stay on the campaign trail in the coming months). (READ THE PIECE: DeSantis Must Stay in the Race)
Blame it on the fact that I’m a proud member of Gen Z, or that I kinda, maybe, sorta liked Ramasmarmy’s attitude on the first primary debate stage back in August, but I can’t quite move on. For a candidate who had precisely no name recognition going into the race and then decided to run on almost the same platform as Donald Trump — the effective incumbent — Ramaswamy did quite well. In Iowa, he spent just $127,000 in ads (Haley spent $7.8 million, DeSantis $6.1 million, and Trump $3.5 million) and still pulled 7 percent of the vote.
It was almost as if Ramaswamy wasn’t even trying — and maybe he wasn’t. Not only did he endorse Trump the minute he suspended his campaign (which shocked precisely nobody; Ramaswamy has been the most pro-Trump candidate in the ring), but he then went on the campaign trail in New Hampshire alongside the former president.
That brings us to this afternoon, when Ramaswamy and Trump appeared side by side on stage in New Hampshire, and the former told a cheering audience: “There is not a better choice left in this race than this man [Trump] right here. And that is why I am asking you to do the right thing as New Hampshire and vote for Donald J. Trump as your next president.” As Ramaswamy exited stage right, the crowd broke into the chant: “VP, VP.”
Trump’s response? “Pretty good, isn’t it? He is a fantastic guy, and he really got something that is very special. He is going to be working with us, and he will be working with us for a long time.” Right. It sounds that, as far as Ramaswamy is concerned, he got exactly what he wanted out of his campaign — a place next to Trump.
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