The utter ridiculousness of Vivek Ramaswamy

A reflection.

(Vivek Ramaswamy)

Vivek Ramaswamy isn’t running for president anymore.

After finishing a distant fourth in Iowa’s caucuses, he dropped out of the race and — to the surprise of no one — endorsed Donald Trump.

But, I think it’s worth taking a minute to reflect on the campaign that Ramaswamy ran — and how it typified all of the worst parts of modern politics.

Let’s start at the end. In the days leading up to the Iowa caucuses, Ramaswamy’s social media feeds were filled with conspiracy theories and other pronouncements about how the shadowy elites were going to keep Trump from the nomination (and, therefore, why Ramaswamy needed to be the nominee).

There was this one:

And this one:

The plot! Open your eyes! TRUTH!

This was all, of course, utter bull shit. Ramaswamy never believed a word of it! He endorsed Trump within minutes of getting out of the race! If this plot was so nefarious and so all encompassing, why do that? Isn’t he just playing into “their” hands??!?

The end of the campaign was much like the rest of it — Ramaswamy just saying things (they’re not telling us the truth about 9/11, January 6 was an inside job) to appeal to the conspiracy-minded within the Republican base without ever a) having any evidence to back up his claims and b) really believing what he was saying.

I’m not entirely sure why Ramaswamy’s candidacy bothered me as much as it did. After all, politicians say stuff they don’t believe all the time. I think it’s because Ramaswamy’s hucksterism was SO apparent to me that I was appalled that anyone — literally ANYONE — fell for it.

He reminded me — from day one — of the monorail salesman on “The Simpsons”:

Like, any thinking person gets that this guy is just doing a bit, right? That he is effectively a salesman for himself? That he is using the presidential primary process solely as a vehicle to advance his own interests? That he is, at root, just a guy trying to get famous?

What’s maddening — at least to me — is that it’s going to work. Ramaswamy is now a household name in conservative Republican circles. He’ll be a sought-after surrogate for Donald Trump not only in the rest of the Republican primary but in the general election too. He’ll be a Fox News darling. He’ll write books. They will sell. And on and on we go.

The hard truth is that although he flamed out bigly in Iowa (and the campaign more broadly), Ramaswamy got what he really wanted out of this race: Attention. That depresses me. Because his campaign was based on nothing but slick slogans and radical (and totally unrealistic) pronouncements designed to "shake up the system.”

And here’s what’s worse: Not only is Ramaswamy not gone for good (he will be kicking around politics for a while, I believe) but his candidacy is likely to attract even more imitators who see running for president as a quick and easy way to boost your profile.

Ugh.