United States presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy loves rapping and has not shied away from flexing his rap skills in public. His stage name was Da Vek during his undergraduate days at Harvard University.
A video of the Indian-origin candidate rapping to Eminem’s Lose Yourself at the Iowa State Fair last month has gone viral. But this did not go down well with Eminem.
The rap star on Monday formally asked the conservative entrepreneur not to use his music any more on his campaign trail.
During the last two US presidential elections, Rihanna and Adele, among other musicians, had complained that their songs were played at Donald Trump rallies without their permission.
Referring to the Eminem lyrics, Mr Ramaswamy’s campaign spokesman Tricia McLaughlin said, “Vivek just got on the stage and cut loose. To the American people’s chagrin, we will have to leave the rapping to ‘The Real Slim Shady’.”
Mr Ramaswamy made light of the situation on X: “Will The REAL Slim Shady please stand up? He didn’t just say what I think he did, did he?”
But the 38-year-old, who fancies himself as “Trump 2.0”, is serious about his presidential campaign.
He is enjoying a surge in the Republican primary race and is a frontrunner along with former US President Trump to face current US President Joe Biden in the 2024 polls.
He was one of the stars of the first Republican primary debate held last week, while also hitting the headlines for suggesting that he would like to have business magnate Elon Musk as an adviser if elected President.
Mr Ramaswamy clearly wants to be the next Mr Trump: an outsider who will take on the US political establishment, win the presidency and push a hard-right agenda from the Oval Office.
“I’m more similar to Trump in 2015 than Trump today is to Trump in 2015,” Mr Ramaswamy said in an interview last month with British actor and podcast host Russell Brand.
Brand replied, jokingly: “Trump-er than Trump, trumping Trump on Trump-ness.”
Two weeks later, Mr Ramaswamy would deliver a Trump-like performance at the first Republican debate of the 2024 presidential election season – admonishing opponents, relishing attacks and advancing unorthodox policy proposals.
And political pundits and media commentators across the country took notice.
When the customary post-debate analyses rolled out in the US media after the Aug 23 event, Mr Ramaswamy was widely touted as the night’s winner.
“Vivek Ramaswamy won tonight’s debate and should get a good debate bounce in the polls. He was articulate, comfortable, smiling, coherent, succinct and oozing intellect throughout,” conservative journalist David Brody wrote on social media.
According to recent polls, Mr Ramaswamy is still far behind Mr Trump in the Republican nomination race. But he is catching up on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is No. 2.
His rise highlights the party’s willingness to support candidates with unconventional, hardline ideas – and no previous experience in politics.
The son of Indian immigrants to the US, Mr Ramaswamy made millions in pharmaceuticals and biotech before authoring a book in 2021 titled Woke, Inc., which put him on the map of right-wing politics.
In the book, he raged against the push for sustainable and equitable business policies, known as environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG).
Mr Ramaswamy has promoted the idea of race-blind “meritocracy” in opposition to policies aimed at bolstering diversity. “Reverse racism is racism,” he often says.
Despite his media appearances, few people would have recognised Mr Ramaswamy’s name when he launched his campaign for the White House this year.
In the span of a few months, however, he went from a largely unknown figure at the national level to competing with Mr DeSantis for second place in opinion polls in the Republican presidential contest.
“To many Americans, the idea of an outsider being able to correct what’s wrong in Washington is very appealing, particularly – especially for Republicans – if that outsider is a successful businessman,” said Prof Todd Belt, political management programme director at George Washington University.
“And I think that his youth and energy is appealing to people.”
But for all the praise he has received, Mr Ramaswamy is pushing fringe ideas that liberals describe as dangerous, including climate change denialism and the prospect of military operations against drug dealers in Mexico.
Mr Belt agreed but added: “He was saying things that frankly exhibited a lack of understanding of how the government works and the powers of the presidency. The other candidates were trying to expose his ignorance and, in doing so, used his name and ended up giving him more time.”
Mr Ramaswamy has poured US$15 million ($20 million) of his own money into his campaign, according to federal election records.
“He’s had tremendous success so far going from zero point zero in the polls to the third place, or in some polls, second place,” said Republican Party strategist Dave Carney.
“The problem is his ideas limit his growth.”
But, with half of the votes still available to non-Trump voters, Mr Ramaswamy is “taking up oxygen” right now and “dominating a lot of non-Trump conversation”, added Mr Carney.
Given Mr Ramaswamy’s views on Mr Trump, some are wondering whether he would eventually settle on becoming the former President’s running mate.
But Mr Ramaswamy has repeatedly said he’s not interested in the running mate role. “Donald Trump and I share something in common, and that is that neither of us would do well in a No. 2 position.”
Indo-Asian News Service
