 "Vivek Ramaswamy has been endorsed by Donald Trump in the Ohio gubernatorial election. File Photo/Reuters")
Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” or Maga base has trained its guns on FBI Director Kash Patel and Vivek Ramaswamy, both vocal supporters of the United States president. The Indian-origin duo is facing racist attacks despite their ties to Trump.
Amid backlash, the American president has endorsed Ramaswamy in the Ohio governor’s race. The hateful rhetoric against Indian-Americans by Maga has exposed a deep ideological rift within the conservatives.
Let’s take a closer look.
Vivek Ramaswamy under Maga fire
Vivek Ramaswamy, who amplifies Trump’s “America First” policy, has become a target of the Maga base.
This comes amid an electoral setback for the Republican Party in the recent state elections. The defeat of GOP candidates in the elections in New Jersey, New York and Virginia has forced the need for introspection.
Ramaswamy, who is running for Governor in Ohio, was projected to be narrowly behind Democrat Amy Acton, according to a recent poll. While many other polls place him ahead, some Maga supporters called for replacing him in the 2026 Ohio gubernatorial election, as per an Economic Times report.
This came after Ramaswamy advised Republicans to shun identity politics if they want to retain voters. This did not sit well with the far-right, white supremacist Maga base of Trump.
“Vivek must lose. If Republicans don’t want to lose, they should run someone else right now. This race is not Republican vs Democrat, but a referendum on whether being an American is just a piece of paper. It’s a line in the sand,” one wrote.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsRamaswamy, who was born to Indian immigrants, also faced xenophobic attacks over his Halloween post. Social media users told him to “Go back to your country” and fix his “home.”
A practising Hindu, Ramaswamy has shaped his politics by defending traditional American values and supporting the end of “woke” ideology. Despite supporting the parroting points of the populist Maga movement, he is at the receiving end of racist attacks.
Vivek Ramaswamy and Kash Patel are being targeted on social media for being non-White.
Recent remarks by US Vice President JD Vance on the Hindu faith of his wife, Usha Vance, also stirred a debate about faith and belonging in Trump’s America, noted ET.
With his endorsement for Ramaswamy, whom he called “something special”, Trump is trying to undo the damage caused by online vitriol by the fringe right-wing in the US against Indian Americans.
Conservative Dinesh D’Souza, who has Indian roots, denounced the attacks directed at Ramaswamy as a “sh*tshow and unreal.” He blamed figures like American conservative host Tucker Carlson, Maga extremist Nick Fuentes, and conservative organisations like The Heritage Foundation for “normalising” the far-right elements. “Look at the abuse Vivek is getting for posting an innocuous photo with his boys…. If this continues, I would not be surprised to see mass desertions of blacks, Latinos and other minorities from the GOP,” he warned.
The rhetoric against immigrants and minorities has been fuelled not just by Trump’s Maga base but also by many prominent Republicans, who have called for ending legal immigration and the H-1B visa programme .
Kash Patel experiences Maga backlash
Maga is also unhappy with FBI Director Kash Patel. He was criticised for his Diwali greetings and for the reported use of a government jet to attend his girlfriend Alexis Wilkins’s performance in Pennsylvania.
Patel’s brief post on X read: “Happy Diwali — celebrating the Festival of Lights around the world, as good triumphs over evil.”
This triggered a storm of anti-Hindu remarks on the social media platform.
“Reject this false religion’s Diwali nonsense,” a user wrote. Another commented, “Not the brightest idea to promote foreign gods in the Christian Nation of America.”
Patel’s reaction to using a government plane for personal reasons was also condemned by Maga supporters. The FBI director, who chided people for “disgustingly baseless attacks” against his partner, faced flak.
Conservative commenter Candace Owens wrote on X, “I don’t care about Alexis one way or another but I want to point out that the head of the FBI is tweeting out in defense of his girlfriend. Not a wife but a girlfriend. We are just not a serious nation whatsoever.”
Critics say Indian-American conservatives like D’Souza and Patel are on the receiving end of the xenophobic attacks that they once helped “mainstream”, as per Times of India (TOI).
The split within the US right wing is now out in the open. The increasing hate against non-Whites has been largely driven by the far-right, white nationalist “Groyper” movement led by Maga extremist Nick Fuentes.
D’Souza and Patel, who have supported the Maga agenda, are being labelled as “useful idiots” who can be discarded once they stop being of political use, reported TOI.
Is online hate against desis hurting Republicans?
It seems so.
In Edison, New Jersey, an enclave with one of the largest populations of Indian-Americans, the recent gubernatorial election data signal a major shift away from Republicans to Democrats.
More than 50 per cent of desis favoured Democrats over the GOP.
This shift can be attributed to the Republican Party’s increasing nativism, crackdown on immigration and racist attacks on high-profile Indian-American figures, as per the TOI report.
Some say that this could echo a swing to Democrats on a larger scale.
“Trump wins because his America First includes conservative blacks, Jews, Latinos and immigrants who love America and want to assimilate. Trump’s formula is being DERAILED by Tucker, Candace and Fuentes who don’t like Trump and have a new formula for us to lose every election,” Maga analyst D’Souza said.
“A very loud group on the Right said, “Indians go home,” and so many of them did—to the Democratic Party,” he noted.
Some also called out D’Souza. “Dinesh D’Souza has been lying and grifting in far-right circles for decades, and he never minded the sewer he contributed to until it turned on him,” an African-American podcaster said, taking a jibe.
“What did Republicans do to deserve this Indian betrayal,” a user wrote.
“You can often be skeptical about whether online controversies affect voters. But the anti-Indian hate is so out of control and over the top that I think people were bound to notice,” commentator Richard Hanania wrote.
With inputs from agencies