GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy can’t stop contradicting himself and then crying foul that people notice his contradictions. His usefulness in the GOP primary has expired.
Ramaswamy’s latest contradiction comes from a dust-up with the Free Beacon, which noted that Ramaswamy said that concern about the attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists and the attack on Ukraine by Russia are driven by “financial and corrupting influences that lead” people to “speak the way they do" while ignoring other conflicts.
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Ramaswamy then threw a fit about his words being quoted, and his spokeswoman is threatening legal action. When reporter John McCormack tried to get to the bottom of the debacle, Ramaswamy’s spokeswoman contradicted his original comments by claiming that he thinks those “financial and corrupting influences” are at play with Ukraine but not Israel.
Vivek, we're literally quoting your interview, which anyone can listen to here: https://t.co/V8hVLoXdte
— Alana Goodman (@alanagoodman) October 12, 2023
Also, our story never accused you of antisemitism or even mentioned it. But if that's how you want to characterize your comments, feel free.https://t.co/6psJopRyAr https://t.co/bDHXeAqsdz
The new, baffling Ramaswamy spin is that he apparently believes corrupt financial interests dictate the positions of almost all Republicans and Democrats on almost every foreign-policy issue—except Israel. https://t.co/ObjARSE4be pic.twitter.com/dLnnTxK7Xj
— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) October 13, 2023
At best, Ramaswamy was sloppy with his comments and is now desperately running cleanup, insisting that the “financial and corrupting influences” and “selective moral outrage” that dictate what Republicans and Democrats do and do not talk about in foreign policy apparently apply to every conflict but Israel. But his pattern of contradicting himself does not earn him any benefit of the doubt.
This isn’t even the only Israel-related contradiction Ramaswamy has had during his campaign. In just 17 days, he went from saying the United States should cut aid to Israel by 2028 to cutting aid to Israel would make no sense “any time in the foreseeable future." Among his other greatest hits are his flip-flops on defending Taiwan, banning TikTok, celebrating Juneteenth, accepting a Soros scholarship, and praising former Vice President Mike Pence for his handling of Jan. 6.
Vivek went from wanting to ban the CCP app collecting critical data on Americans to joining and promoting it because a social media influencer who peddled nonsense to kids told him it was a good idea…
— AG (@AGHamilton29) September 13, 2023
Just the latest malfunction for VivekGPT. https://t.co/tzJouhLnQA
Ramaswamy is the most sensitive of weather vanes, rapidly shifting his comments to please the audience he thinks he is speaking to. He stands for just about nothing while putting himself on every side of just about every issue. All the while, he insists that only he is genuine and good and pure, and every other politician is bought and paid for. That is why he is always able to stand on his principles, which also happen to be whatever you want to hear. How convenient.
Ramaswamy was an interesting enough novelty when he first ran, but he contributes nothing to the race at this point. The novelty has worn off, and all that is left is a man who must constantly clarify or contradict his previous comments and has no conservative record to speak of. Much like the candidates polling below him in the GOP primary, it is time for him to drop out so the party can try and work toward nominating a serious candidate.