Vivek Ramaswamy, biotechnology entrepreneur and author of “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam,” threw his hat in the ring on Tuesday for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
Filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) indicate that Ramaswamy, 37, is registering as a Republican candidate. As a political newcomer, he joins the GOP race with former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
“We’re in the midst of a national identity crisis. Faith, patriotism, hard work, and family are on the decline,” Ramaswamy wrote in a statement provided to The Epoch Times, after announcing his presidential bid.
“Climateism, wokeism, and gender ideology have taken their place. We need to fill that identity vacuum with a vision of American national identity that dilutes the woke agenda to irrelevance.”
He describes the Chinese regime as the “greatest external threat” America faces.
“Declaring independence from China won’t be easy, but we can do it if we rediscover who we really are,” he said in the statement. In a statement posted Wednesday morning on Twitter, Ramaswamy added that America needs to “ban most U.S. companies from doing business in China until the CCP falls or radically reforms.”
“If we defeat them economically now, we avoid having to do so militarily later. This involves real sacrifice, but we can rise to the occasion,” he said.
In a statement posted on Twitter soon after his bid announcement, Ramaswamy wrote that his first move as U.S. president would be to repeal a Johnson-era mandate requiring affirmative action for federal contractors.
“As U.S. President, I will end federally mandated affirmative action—full stop. I will repeal Lyndon Johnson’s Executive Order 11246 which mandates race-based quotas. Every Republican since Johnson had the opportunity to do it. I’ll do it on Day 1 without apology,” he wrote.
Additionally, Ramaswamy says he is committed to exposing government documents of state influence in private enterprises, or what he calls the “state action files,” if elected.
“Just as [Twitter CEO Elon Musk] did at Twitter, as President I will release the ‘state action files’ from the federal government—exposing every instance where the feds pressured companies to take constitutionally prohibited actions. Roll that log over & see what crawls out,” Ramaswamy wrote. “Won’t be pretty.”
In another post, he gave a glimpse into other areas he would be tackling as president.
“I challenge every GOP candidate to join me in making some easy commitments: end affirmative action; abandon climate religion; total decoupling from China; 8-year limits for all federal bureaucrats; say NO to central bank digital currencies; release the ‘state action’ files,” Ramaswamy wrote in bullet points.
“There’s a lot else we can disagree on. But if you can’t make these basic commitments, you shouldn’t be a serious GOP contender,” he added.
Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants, graduated from Harvard University with a biology degree and later obtained a juris doctor degree at Yale Law School. Until his Tuesday announcement, he served as the executive chairman of Strive Asset Management, a company focused on promoting “excellence capitalism and depoliticizing corporate America.” Before heading Strive, he founded and led biopharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences.
By Gary Bai
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