Why some Americans love to hate Vivek Ramaswamy

No sooner had certain sections declared the “skinny guy with a funny last name” the “winner” of the debate among eight candidates for the Republican nomination for the presidential election apart from the frontrunner Donald Trump (who did not attend) that the brick-batting started. Vivek Ramaswamy should be immensely pleased. There is nothing quite like criticism to pump up the numbers. Remember what it did for another skinny guy with the funny last name back in 2008. Ramaswamy has not shortened his first name to Vick (though he did a brief turn as a college rapper named De Vek) unlike Nikki Haley or Bobby Jindal. Nor has he infantilised his last name to something more ‘mainstream’. It remains defiantly four-syllabic and real, not made up like Nahasapeemapetilon, Indian-American Apu’s supposed surname in The Simpsons. And he is Hindu—unlike Bobby and Nikki—although he professes to concur with Judeo-Christian values. Many Indians would find nothing odd in that. Generations of non-Christians have passed through the portals of Catholic and Protestant schools and colleges in India imbibing those values without facing dilemmas about their own faith. Given that even Christian US presidents have differed on issues like abortion, why should being Hindu be a factor? Nothing in Ramaswamy’s political agenda conflicts with any Christian “concerns” anyway, so such niggles are surely motivated. It is odd that two Indian-origin men with political ambitions, both children of immigrants (to the UK and US respectively) invariably draw flak for being self-made millionaires when they should be celebrated as products of the opportunities provided by the nations their parents emigrated to. Rishi Sunak is dissed for being the richest-ever British prime minister and the funny-surnamed Ramaswamy’s $950 million self-made biotech fortune is now being derided too. Sunak’s detractors rejoice every time they sniff a ‘conflict of interest’, mostly related to his ultra-rich wife Akshata Murty, from her non-domiciled tax status to, most recently, Britain’s proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India and her shares in tech giant Infosys. This patriarchal bias spurred by envy would not have bubbled up had the target not been immigrants, that too, from the colony from which the British Empire wrung $45 trillion via unfair trade practices. In Ramaswamy’s case, the tide of disinformation by his political opponents (in his own party as well the other one) and the mainstream media about his stand on issues from a 9/11 cover-up to US marshals in the crowd at the Capitol on 6 January 2020 despite repeated clarifications, bespeaks deep-seated prejudice as well. Now that he has also voiced his support for deeper ties with India as a preferable alternative to China, criticism will become more virulent. The most annoying thing about Ramaswamy, for some people, is not his wealth but his formidable powers of articulation. Republican presidential nomination frontrunner Donald Trump’s disjointed utterances need paraphrasing in order to be understood; Ramaswamy’s repartee is razor sharp. Unlike with Trump, are no obvious shortcomings or gaffes to lampoon, no fund-raising fiddles, no personal peccadilloes to rake up to distract voters from Ramaswamy’s message. The American commentariat and political class are also irked that no fingers can be pointed at Ramaswamy’s wealth. So they have tried to bring up his education in a private school (fees $16,000 a year) as evidence that his parents were well-off, and so his self-made-man story is dodgy. But as any Indian will verify, desi parents will skimp and save to send their progeny to the best schools—no indulgences, no holidays, everything is channelled into a good school. That Indian mindset and reverence for education also led to Sunak attending an “elite” boarding school in UK (where private schools are called public!) despite being the son of immigrant parents with no inherited wealth. Those children are very aware that they have to work hard and use every opportunity to make their own way in the world. That mantra is ingrained in desi kids, and used to be what pushed earlier generations of immigrants succeed—in the US at least. So why begrudge Ramaswamy? Sadly, it’s not merely because of his views—anti everything trendily woke from climate change to critical race theory—but because he uses a dangerously unfashionable term to describe himself: an American nationalist. Calling himself that as a non-white guy with a funny name must be very subversive indeed for the commentariat. It’s only okay for a 6’3”, 77-year-old white braggart to say so, as that is a comfortable stereotype. Nationalist is a very old-fashioned word, and an invective in certain quarters, even in India. But American nationalism is unique because it has sprung from a nation of (generations of) immigrants and is thus based on ideals, not ethnic superiority. Former president George W Bush once said, “There is no American race; there’s only an American creed.” Now a spunky Indian-American presidential hopeful is now reminding his race-and-identity-riven nation of that simple fact. That American creed is something those “inside the Beltway” appear to have forgotten. Therefore, they also wilfully misunderstand Ramaswamy’s position on, say, the war in Ukraine and issue of Taiwan. This is because the US establishment and mainstream media has been resolutely deaf to any other opinion on Ukraine and maintain a curiously pusillanimous attitude towards China despite the red flags. Even Hunter Biden’s shady links with China have been downplayed. Ramaswamy believes Ukraine is not the US’s war and that China poses a bigger threat given its rising clout in business and finance in the west. That may be simplistic, but it is undeniable that the US is best served by getting Russia to delink from China instead of driving them closer due to sanctions. China thinks the US will not take on two nuclear powers together, which drives its bonhomie with Russia, apart from the lure of exploiting Africa together. Why oblige China? Many countries outside Europe feel Ukraine is not their war. India is one of them. Many countries also understand the threat China poses. India is one of them. That a bunch of American presidential hopefuls, mostly professional politicians, do not want to bell the cat harks back to why Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and still commands a huge following; dyed-in-the-wool politicians face an increasing trust deficit with the American people even if they can sway the media. In 1992, maverick billionaire Ross Perot finished third behind Bill Clinton (the winner) and George HW Bush in the presidential elections and got 18.91 per cent of the popular vote as an Independent. America’s views about professional politicians had begun to turn then. Trump was the first beneficiary of that rising sentiment 24 years later. But not the last. Ramaswamy is not a politician and actually wants to Make America Great Again—as a skinny guy with a funny name. No wonder that is making some people deeply uncomfortable. How can they explain why Vice President Kamala Harris was worthy of support merely for a mediocre academic record and for climbing the greasy political pole using her numerous minority identities, but a man who has only excelled so far is not? How warped some parts of US society have become that they see Ramaswamy as a threat instead of an obvious alternative to two unsuitable old white men. The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._ Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.