The GOP has proposed that the good people of Ohio elect Vivek Ramaswamy as their next Governor. While Ohio's GOP thinks highly of Vivek, Vivek does not think highly of Ohio.
On Christmas Eve last year, Vivek Ramaswamy publicly disparaged American work ethic:
Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn't start in college, it starts YOUNG. A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers. A culture that venerates Cory from "Boy Meets World," or Zach & Slater over Screech in "Saved by the Bell," or 'Stefan' over Steve Urkel in "Family Matters," will not produce the best engineers. (Fact: I know *multiple* sets of immigrant parents in the 90s who actively limited how much their kids could watch those TV shows precisely because they promoted mediocrity…and their kids went on to become wildly successful STEM graduates). More movies like Whiplash, fewer reruns of "Friends." More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons. More books, less TV. More creating, less "chillin." More extracurriculars, less "hanging out at the mall."
The essence of this statement is that ordinary Americans who enjoy leisure, family time, and social activities are "mediocre" and unworthy of success. That because our society enjoys a balanced life, we are inherently inferior to immigrants like him and his parents. He believes that because he doesn't watch Friends, he has earned the right to buy the American dream out its true inheritors: our children.
This insane diatribe against the American people should have been immediately disqualifying. For most politicians, it would be.
Instead of replacing Vivek with a more capable and likable candidate, the Ohio GOP has doubled down on him. Just this week, Ohio GOP Chairman Alex Triantafilou denounced anyone who criticizes Vivek Ramaswamy as a part of a "grifter class". If you have a problem with Vivek's disdain for Ohioans, Alex says you're just jealous of Vivek's wealth and success.
The unserious grifter class making money from clicks and podcast listenership bores me. Ohio has serious leaders focused on solutions for real people in @SenJonHusted and @VivekGRamaswamy, and I anticipate a strong slate of serious candidates in 2026. And we WILL win. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I rarely take the Twitter bait. But here goes: ... 2. He's a wildly successful, 100% self-made entrepreneur who ran successful businesses. I knew him when he was 17. This amazing climb is of his own doing—hard work, sheer genius, and total discipline. He built something from middle-class roots in suburban Cincinnati. Government is lucky to get someone this smart. He's serious on merit and success.
Wow, he has a lot of money and you're friends? We're happy for you guys, Alex, but Ohio deserves a Governor who respects its people, not one who looks down on them.
The success Mr. Triantafilou praises, by the way, is actually Vivek's family business: a series of pump-and-dump pharmaceutical scam companies.
In that vein we can see how truly two-faced Vivek is. One of his main criticisms of Dem candidate Amy Acton is that she promoted COVID-19 lockdowns in Ohio, but Vivek sat next to her on the Ohio Coronavirus Task Force that recommended those lockdowns. He supported them with her and doesn't seem to understand how bad he looks criticizing her now.
That entrepeneurship Alex Triantafilou is so proud of is also tied up in the COVID-19 lockdowns that Vivek supported. His biotech company Riovant and its subsidiaries held a patent for vaccine delivery used by Moderna to develop its COVID-19 vaccine. To this day, Vivek is still in court with Moderna claiming he deserves more money from the vaccine profits!
His campaign is a disaster. Trump won Ohio with a margin of 16 points in 2024, so the Ohio GOP is very confident they can run him and enjoy his billionaire nepo-baby money without repercussions. They're wrong. Recent polls are already showing the Democrats beating Vivek Ramaswamy in a state that he should be leading comfortably.
This man is unelectable. Ohio deserves better. Since the GOP won't fix this, we have to fix the GOP.
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