Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy dropped his presidential bid after he earned less than 8% of the Iowa caucus vote. He also announced he would endorse Trump’s campaign to continue the “America First” foreign policy strategy, according to the Des Moines Register.
The loss in Iowa follows months of Ramaswamy’s campaign in which he had traveled to all 99 counties in Iowa twice.
On the other hand, former President Donald Trump, who beat runner-up Gov. Ron DeSantis by a margin of nearly 30% according to the Associated Press, arrived in Iowa Jan. 13 and canceled multiple rallies.
Local reporter Ty Rushing from Iowa Starting Line said other candidates did not have a chance against Trump in the caucuses because of Trump’s “cult personality” and celebrity presence among his supporters.
“How many of the supporters do you see at other rallies wearing merchandise with the candidate’s face?” Rushing said.
While Ramaswamy’s rally the day before the caucus did not yield Trump’s magnitude of signed baseball caps and patriotic streamers, it did bring in a crowd.
A few minutes to noon Jan. 14, people of all ages crammed into Sweet Caroline’s Kitchen and Cocktails in Ames, Iowa. The street outside was deserted. In weather nearly 40 degrees below freezing, it is unlikely that there were accidental attendees at one of Ramaswamy’s final rallies to secure the caucus vote.
At 21-years-old, Charles Nadine is Ramaswamy’s Regional Politics Director for the midwest, traveling with Ramaswamy across all 99 counties ahead of the Iowa caucus Jan. 15. Nadine is not alone as a twenty-something on the campaign trail. Unlike other candidates, he said Ramaswamy’s team is mostly people in their early or mid-twenties.
“He did attract a young crowd,” Nadine said. “Staff, a lot of times that’s not something you get to pick. It’s who comes to you.”
Nadine was one of the team members setting up for the event: placing brochures in front of each seat that were printed with a sepia coloring, faux creases and brazen font like mini Constitutions, hanging an all-white banner behind Ramaswamy’s standing mark with the word “TRUTH” stretching across in black ink.
Ramaswamy’s mantra became clear about halfway through his speech as he discussed the value of transparency in historical crises.
“We stand for the truth,” Ramaswamy said. “That is what won us the American Revolution. And the Civil War. And the World Wars and the Cold War.”
Ramaswamy’s speech was structured around his 10 Truths and the “America First 2.0” plan as they are printed in the brochure. He said he would drain the swamp, which will result in firing 75% of federal bureaucrats. He said he would pardon every protester who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection against the White House in 2021. Moreover, he said he would secure the border and ensure that illegal immigrants whose children are born in the U.S. will not be granted citizenship, citing the Fourteenth Amendment.
Above all, Ramaswamy said he would support the U.S. Constitution as the “strongest guarantor of freedoms in history,” as stated in his brochure.
“Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay,” Ramaswamy said. “Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine. Would they say they’re proud of the way we’re running our country, or would they say they’re appalled?”
At this point, some brochures had fallen to the floor or were being used as placemats for the attendees’ complimentary barbecue chicken wings. Ramaswamy did not let up on historical nostalgia. He went on to affirm that “we live in 1776 right now,” and that with his leadership, “the founding fathers will no longer be rolling over in their graves.”
Ramaswamy’s half-hour speech “sealed the deal” for 33-year-old Iowan Steve Long, because he said no one has worked harder than Ramaswamy to win the popular vote.
However, father and son Greg and Hunter Krichell said while they agreed with Ramaswamy’s points, they plan to vote for Trump. Greg Krichell said it would be a “wasted vote” for the other candidates who were nearly 30 points behind in the polls according to a prediction by the Des Moines Register Jan. 13.
Regardless of his faith in his Iowan supporters, Ramaswamy is out of the race. All eyes are on DeSantis and Haley as they head into the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, vying to be the candidate that will dethrone Trump.
