Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy predicted in a video posted to social media Wednesday that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would soon join former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s campaign as her vice presidential running mate.
In the video, in which he sounded more like an advocate for former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign than his rival for the 2024 Republican nomination, Ramaswamy said “the system” would push for that outcome and, bizarrely, that DeSantis would have no choice in the matter.
“Here’s the plot,” he wrote in the X post accompanying the video. “1. Narrow this to a 2-horse race between Trump & a puppet they can control. 2. Eliminate Trump. 3. Trot their puppet into the White House.
“Prediction: next up, Ron DeSantis joins Nikki Haley’s ticket as VP. Ron may not know it yet, but he won’t have a say in the matter,” he added.
Ramaswamy did not explain, either in the post or in the video, how DeSantis would be essentially forced into a role as Haley’s running mate beyond saying that “that’s what his donors are going to make him do.”
“The system wants to narrow this down to a two-horse race between Donald Trump and a puppet who they can control,” he said in the video, without explaining who or what he meant by “the system.”
“And it has become increasing clear that that puppet is not a Democrat; it’s not even [Democratic California Gov.] Gavin Newsom,” he said. “It’s Nikki Haley. It’s in our own party.”
Ramaswamy then claimed that former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dropping out of the race for the nomination was “one more step in that plot,” as if it were somehow unusual for a candidate who never managed to get above 3.5 percent in the RealClearPolitics average of national polls to stop trying to win a race he couldn’t possibly win.
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Ramaswamy himself has been sitting between 4.0 and 4.3 percent in the same average since Dec. 20, having fallen from a peak of about 8.1 percent in late September, but has shown no inclination toward getting out of the race … at least not yet.
He then made the prediction about DeSantis joining Haley’s ticket, again, as if that were an unheard of move a presidential primary. (Regular readers of The Western Journal will no doubt remember Carly Fiorina joining Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s ticket in 2016, hoping to generate enough momentum to take the nomination that year.)
“The whole game, it’s hiding in plain sight,” he claimed, again, without an explanation of who was “hiding” anything or why expected campaign maneuvering would have to be hidden in the first place.
“Whatever it takes,” he added, although, again, he had only referred to predictable campaign moves. “The system will stop at nothing, and I mean nothing, to eliminate Donald Trump from contention. It’s disgusting.”
He explained again that DeSantis would be forced into the slot as Haley’s running mate (actually, he repeatedly said “VP,” but what he actually meant was running mate), claiming that DeSantis’ donors would force the move on him. “It’s not really his choice,” he claimed.
“We have to open our eyes and not fall into their trap,” he said, before predicting that Trump would not actually be the Republican nominee in 2024 — a prediction he had made before.
“Our America First agenda cannot end, our movement cannot end, with Donald Trump when they take him out from contention,” he said. “And if you think the system is going to even let this man get anywhere near the White House, we need to open our eyes.”
“They are selling us the rope today that they are going to use to hang us tomorrow,” he claimed. “Do not fall into the trap, people. And that’s why I’m here.”
You can watch the entire rant here:
Here’s the plot:
1. Narrow this to a 2-horse race between Trump & a puppet they can control.
2. Eliminate Trump.
3. Trot their puppet into the White House.Prediction: next up, Ron DeSantis joins Nikki Haley’s ticket as VP. Ron may not know it yet, but he won’t have a say in the… pic.twitter.com/EZzWn4WVya
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) January 10, 2024
For whatever it’s worth, X users for the most part didn’t seem to agree with Ramaswamy’s reasoning, with one even pointing out that Ramaswamy had told Christie that he should drop out of the race — a move he now calls part of the “plot.”
Vivek, you did this to Christie!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/jW1yhPGjgX
— Sri Harsha (@X___PB) January 10, 2024
Other replies said Ramaswamy sounded “desperate” and called him a liar, or said that Trump was more likely to take Haley on as a running mate than she was to team up with DeSantis.
Even some of his supporters clearly disliked his prediction that Trump can’t “get close to” the White House, especially given how much support Ramaswamy seemed to be giving the former president.
