'Blatant fanboying': Why the GOP base is 'eating up' Vivek Ramaswamy’s 'showmanship'
Many polls released in late August are showing that wealthy biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has moved into third place in the 2024 GOP presidential primary. Former President Donald Trump remains the primary's clear frontrunner, leading the second-place candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by 40 percent (Yahoo News), 44 percent (Morning Consult) or 41 percent (Insider Advantage). But Ramaswamy is making headway.
Those polls were released before Fox News hosted, on Wednesday, August 23, the first 2024 GOP presidential primary debate. Ramaswamy's ultra-MAGA comments drew applause from Republican voters in the audience, indicating that he has a good shot at overtaking DeSantis in the primary.
In a biting op-ed published by The Guardian on August 25, journalist Margaret Sullivan explains Ramaswamy's appeal to the Republican base. Sullivan slams his positions as terrible, which, she argues, is the reason why many GOP voters have taken a liking to him.
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?
"He thinks the climate crisis is a hoax, supports Vladimir Putin's aggression in Ukraine and would gladly pardon Donald Trump on Day 1 of his would-be presidency," Sullivan observes. "A wealthy biotech entrepreneur, the 38-year-old has never before run for public office. Despite all of this — or maybe because of it — this week’s Republican debate became a national coming-out party for Vivek Ramaswamy."
Although Ramaswamy is running against the former president, he is very pro-Trump. Ramaswamy's argument for nominating him is essentially that he is best equipped to take Trump's MAGA agenda to the next level.
"Suddenly, this inexperienced and dangerous showoff is almost a household name," Sullivan laments. "Many in the Republican base ate up his showmanship and blatant fanboying of their hero, Donald Trump. In CNN's post-debate focus group of Republican voters in Iowa, for example, Ramaswamy got the most favorable response. Trump publicly applauded him."
The Bulwark's Charlie Sykes, a Never Trump conservative who frequently appears on MSNBC, attacked Ramaswamy's debate performance as "facile, clownish, shallow, shameless, pandering" but lamented that it is "exactly what GOP voters crave these days." Sykes views the performance as an indictment not only of Ramaswamy, but also, of the Trumpified Republican base of 2023. And Sullivan obviously shares that view.
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"In case there was any doubt," Sullivan argues, "now we know: they will always fall for the attention-seeking, the policy-unencumbered, the candidate quickest with a demeaning insult. That's a 'winner,' apparently. If Ramaswamy's real aim — other than to bask in his own glorious reflection — is to get Trump to choose him as his running mate, he made progress toward that end."
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