Meet Vivek Ramaswamy, the newest shiny object in MAGAland, and a possible VP pick | Opinion

Say his name: “vih VAKE rah mah SWAH mee.”

He’s the newest shiny object in the Republican primary field, a political rookie running ahead of a former veep, a sitting senator and several ex-governors. If his performance in the Aug. 23 presidential debate struck you as odd — like a new kid in school trying to get beaten up on his first day — rest assured that he found his lane before the evening ended. He joined Tim Scott and Nikki Haley as a long shot who wants to be president but would settle for being Donald Trump’s running mate. Forgoing subtlety, he practically showed up wearing a “PLEASE SIR PICK ME” tattoo on his forehead.

When moderator Bret Baier asked the candidates if they would support their party’s nominee even if he were a convicted felon, Vivek Ramaswamy’s hand shot up first. He called Trump “the best president of the 21^st century” and pledged to pardon him on day one. He called the candidates beside him “super PAC puppets” and announced that he was the only one there who wasn’t “bought and paid for.” Perhaps his nastiest moment came when Baier asked him if he would continue funding the war in Ukraine:

“I would not… We’re driving Russia further into China’s hands… I find it offensive that we have professional politicians on the stage that will make a pilgrimage to Kyiv, to their pope Zelensky, without doing the same thing for people in Maui or the south side of Chicago or Kensington.”

By suggesting that aid (or even attention) to Ukraine leaves America with no means of confronting problems at home, Ramaswamy insulted the country he proposes to lead. And he needlessly insulted his fellow debaters: by that point, they all hated him anyway.

So who is this 38-year-old unknown endeavoring to out-Trump Trump? Did he escape from a lab that does gain-of-function research on the MAGA virus?

Actually Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati to an engineer and a psychiatrist who came to Ohio from India. He graduated valedictorian from St. Xavier High School in 2003 and earned a biology degree, summa cum laude, from Harvard in 2007. Over the next seven years he made a fortune in the biotechnology industry at a hedge fund — and found time to earn a law degree at Yale. He went on to a lucrative career as a biotech entrepreneur, amassing a net worth close to a billion dollars.

Now this talented young man has his sights on the demagogue business. Knowing his target audience’s appetite for conspiracies, he has mused on how many police and federal agents were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. He doubts the government told “the truth” about Sept. 11 or Jan. 6 — or about climate change, which he calls a hoax.

In addition to leaving Ukraine to Vladimir Putin, Ramaswamy would leave Taiwan to Xi Jinping once the United States can produce its own advanced semiconductors. He wants to dismantle the administrative state, starting with the Department of Education. He advocates sending the military to the southern border — and on into Mexico, to conduct strikes against drug cartels.

The Trumpian flavor of his policy positions and his eagerness to transform from prince to Trump toady haven’t gone unnoticed by the great man himself. When talk show host Glenn Beck asked Trump for his thoughts on a Vice President Ramaswamy, the former president gushed: “He’s a very, very, very intelligent person. He’s got good energy, and he could be some form of something. I tell you, I think he’d be very good.”

That means Trump doesn’t see you as a threat to his coronation, Vivek. But for the job you’re really after, you may be on the right track.

Michael Smith is a freelance opinion writer in Georgetown, Ky.