Ever since the nomination for the US presidential election started, there has been a war of words between Republicans Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley. In US politics, personal attacks are common.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur, born to Indian-Americans who moved from Kerala to the US, has targeted Nikki Haley from the beginning. Interestingly, both Nikki Haley and Ramaswamy share Indian immigrant backgrounds.
Ramaswamy had trained all the guns at Nikki Haley.
But there is a change now.
After withdrawing from the Presidential race on Tuesday, Vivek Ramaswamy found a new Indian-American target — Vice-President Kamla Harris. Also an American-Indian.
The change of tack and target also reveals how Vivek Ramaswamy is positioning himself — as a serious vice-president choice for Republican frontrunner and former US President Donald Trump.
The new-found target also shows that the Indian-American duels on the political battlefield are here to stay.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY VS NIKKI HALEY BATTLE
Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy crossed swords during the first Republican Party primary debate in August 2023 about foreign policy issues. It was such a heated exchange that at one point, both shouted at each other for more than 30 seconds, waving their fingers as they yelled.
That was the first time in American history that two Indian-origin candidates had shared the stage and sparred during a primary presidential debate.
In another incident, during a debate, Ramaswamy went so far as to hold up a poster written ‘Nikki=Corrupt’ accusing the South Carolina former governor and UN ambassador of corruption over her corporate job, and she has responded harshly, branding him untrustworthy and berating him for mentioning her children.
After this, the same picture was also seen where Vivek Ramaswamy was seen looking down at Nikki Haley. During another debate, it was seen that Vivek had called Nikki Haley a ‘fascist neocon’ with lipstick.
Away in the days of Iowa caucus, where Donald Trump wins with the majority and turned the contest into a race for second place, as both Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley aim to emerge as the chief alternative to Trump.
WHY VIVEK RAMASWAMY PULLED OUT OF RACE
After coming fourth in the Iowa caucus, Vivek Ramaswamy decided to suspend his 2024 US Presidential bid.
The millionaire biotech entrepreneur said he was ending his campaign for the Republican nomination and endorsed Trump, vowing to support him even if he was convicted of felonies.
“Earlier tonight, I called Donald Trump to tell him that I congratulate him on his victory. And now going forward, he will have my full endorsement for the presidency,” Ramaswamy said in his speech.
Is endorsing Trump a trick of Vivek Ramaswamy? All through his campaign, as a policy, Ramaswamy never attacked Trump. He, in fact, repeatedly stated that Trump was the “greatest president of the 21st century”.
Instead, he trained his guns on fellow Indian-American and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
ATTACK ON KAMALA HARRIS A CLEVER POSITIONING?
So now the question arises whether it was a calculated move by Vivek Ramaswamy who had already known that he would not be able to defeat Donald Trump. But maybe Ramaswamy knew that if he surrendered and backed Donald Trump, he might be picked as his running mate, i.e., vice-presidential candidate.
On Wednesday, chants of “VP, VP (Vice-President)” greeted Ramaswamy as he shared the stage with Donald Trump in New Hampshire and delivered a fiery speech endorsing the former President. New Hampshire is going to be the next primary battle for the Republicans.
Now in the US presidential campaign, Vivek Ramaswami, who might be positioning himself as the vice-presidential candidate. And what better way to do that than by taking on Kamala Harris?
The US Vice-President is another Indian-American. Her mother is from India, and her father was born in Jamaica.
Ramaswamy made his intentions clear on Wednesday.
“Kamala is in charge of AI policy right now. In a debate, I’d challenge her to see if she can spell ‘AI’,” Vivek Ramaswamy posted on X (formerly Twitter).
His attack was not limited to Kamala. He dragged Nikki Haley into it too and wrote, “I’d bet on the same blank stare I got from Nikki when I asked her to name 3 provinces in Eastern Ukraine.”
Here Vivek Ramaswamy is trying to kill two birds with one stone — diminish Nikki Haley and take the battle to Kamala Harris. The battle of the Indian-Americans is only getting interesting.
