Vivek Ramaswamy, a health care and tech sector entrepreneur, conservative commentator and author who has become a crusader in the culture wars, declared his candidacy for president on Tuesday in a live interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.
“We are in the middle of this national identity crisis, Tucker, where we have celebrated our differences for so long that we forgot all the ways we are really just the same as Americans bound by a common set of ideals that set this nation into motion 250 years ago,” he said.
“That’s why I am proud to say tonight that I am running for United States president to revive those ideals in this country,” Ramaswamy said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“I think we need to put ‘merit’ back into ‘America’ in every spirit of our lives,” continued Ramaswamy, who said he will end affirmative action in “every sphere of American life.”
The 37-year-old Ramaswamy, author of “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam,“ has been on what he’s described as a “listening tour” in recent weeks that took him earlier this month to New Hampshire, which votes second in the Republican presidential nominating calendar.
Ramaswamy, who was dubbed “the CEO of Anti-Woke Inc.” in a New Yorker magazine profile last year, will return to New Hampshire on Wednesday, with multiple stops in Rochester and Manchester.
“This isn’t just a political campaign; this is a cultural movement to create a new dream for the next generation of Americans,” Ramaswamy said in a campaign video released as he announced his bid on Fox News.
Ramaswamy said that his campaign is “about the unapologetic pursuit of excellence in our country. It means you believe in merit; that you get ahead in this country not on the color of your skin but on the content of your character and your contributions.”
“I grew up in Ohio in the ’90s as a skinny kid with nerdy glasses and a funny last name,” Ramaswamy said. “My parents taught me that if you’re going to stand out, then you might as well be outstanding. Achievement was my ticket to get ahead. I went on to found multibillion-dollar companies. And I did it while getting married, raising a family and following my faith in God.”
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