Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy expertly turned the tables on Neil Cavuto when the Fox Business host tried to get him to attack the GOP frontrunner in the 2024 race.
This from westernjournal.com.
.@VivekGRamaswamy to Neil on pardoning Trump: I think the right answer for this country is to move forward pic.twitter.com/a9OmOpIfef
— Neil Cavuto (@TeamCavuto) August 15, 2023
The pair spoke Tuesday on Your World about the various criminal charges filed against Donald Trump this year and Ramaswamy’s promise to pardon the president if elected.
If Cavuto—a Never-Trumper— was hoping the entrepreneur would blast Trump over the indictments, he was wrong.
Indeed, Ramaswamy told the host it is the indictments that are wrong.
He said:
I will be unabashed about standing on the side of principle when I say, yes, these prosecutions are wrong.
Cavuto said:
But there are 91 criminal charges in all … as you’re aware, over four criminal cases. They can’t all be politicized, can they? I mean, there’s something that the former president must have done in any one of these that struck you as wrong, if not illegal.
Ramaswamy responded:
I think, Neil, just because the government has brought a case, if we’re going to be a culture that now starts to say, ‘There must be something wrong if the government has charged 91 counts,’ I think that’s a … people of sheep. And when the people behave like sheep, that breeds a government of wolves.
Cavuto interjected, referencing the charges filed Monday night in Fulton County, Georgia, focused on Trump’s challenge of the 2020 election results:
You don’t think there’s anything in this case, Vivek?
He said:
So, no, I am skeptical.
Cavuto pushed further, saying:
You don’t think there’s anything in this case that shows or even strongly hints of the former president trying to reverse that Georgia, that Georgia contest?
Ramaswamy refused to acquiesce to Cavuto’s attack.
He said:
There’s a difference between a bad judgment and an illegal act.
Ramaswamy added:
I have one question in my mind.
I’m running to be our next president. I ask, what is in the interest of this nation?
Do I believe that these prosecutors or these elected officials or these federal prosecutors are advancing the interests of this nation when they’re bringing this unprecedented indictment, not one time, but now four times over?
No, I think our country is worse off
because of this politicization.
WATCH: Never-Trump Neil Cavuto tries to bait Vivek Ramaswamy into flipping on Trump
Instead, Vivek delivers a masterclass on how to quickly TURN the tables & DUNK on a dishonest interview
When Vivek says he'll "pardon & unite with Trump to destroy the deep state"
Neil loses it: pic.twitter.com/mpivHI4l45— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 16, 2023
This is another example of how well Ramaswamy handles himself in these tight situations.
This isn’t the first time in the last week that the GOP candidate has proved to be an expert at handling what could have been a difficult situation.
During the Iowa State Fair, he gave another masterclass on how to handle someone who disagrees with his politics.
At the fair, a woman confronted him about his stance on the “LGBTQ+ community.”
Ramaswamy replied:
Well, I don’t think it’s one community.
He continued:
I mean, how could it be? Just mash together an alphabet soup.
Trans is fundamentally in tension with gay, if you ask me. But what’s your opinion?
The woman said she was “pansexual,” whatever that is, and asked what he thought about same-sex couples.
His reply was perfect.
Ramaswamy said:
I don’t have a negative view of same-sex couples, but I do have a negative view of a tyranny of the minority.
He continued:
So I think that in the name of protecting against the tyranny of the majority—and there are times in this country’s history where we have had a tyranny of the majority—we have now, in the name of protecting against tyranny of the majority, created a new tyranny of the minority.
And I think that that’s wrong. I don’t think that somebody who’s religious should be forced to officiate a wedding that they disagree with.
I don’t think somebody who is a woman who’s worked really hard for her achievements should be forced to compete against a biological man in a swim competition.
I don’t think that somebody who’s a woman that respects her bodily autonomy and dignity should be forced to change clothes in a locker room with a man.
That’s not freedom. That’s oppression.
WATCH: A “pan-sexual” reporter tries to bait Vivek Ramaswamy at the Iowa State Fair
Instead, he delivers a masterclass on how to instantly turn the tables
Watch his masterful warning against activists grooming children, and their “tyranny of the minority”🔥 pic.twitter.com/ONS3YPbuaQ
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 14, 2023
Ramaswamy nailed it with his “tyranny of the minority” comment. He is exactly right that we are allowing a tiny subset of people to dictate to everyone else, and it’s often a diktat that violates the free speech and free religion rights of most people.
The Ohio-born candidate has disappointed others by refusing to attack Trump even though the former president is the clear frontrunner in the GOP race.
After the Fulton County indictments came down, Ramaswamy blasted them as “downright pathetic.”
He wrote on social media:
Here we go again: another disastrous Trump indictment. It’s downright pathetic that Fulton County publicly posted the indictment on its website even before the grand jury had finished convening.
Earlier this month, Ramaswamy was also seen defending Trump, calling the third indictment—special counsel Jack Smith’s charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion:
[A] political persecution through prosecution … [of] the lead contender in the Republican primary for U.S. President.
The corrupt federal police just won’t stop until they’ve achieved their mission: eliminate Trump. This is un-American & I commit to pardoning Trump for this indictment. Donald Trump isn’t the cause of what happened on Jan 6. The real cause was systematic & pervasive censorship of… pic.twitter.com/c1OpZNOl6c
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) August 1, 2023
Ramaswamy isn’t the perfect conservative, by any means. He has said some things in the past that should concern conservatives.
But he has been a great example of how to be a candidate for president.