Vivek Ramaswamy Throws in the Towel After Failure in Iowa Caucus | International

Donald Trump’s resounding victory in Caucus Iowa, the first step into the primary race, already has its first victim. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, fourth in the vote behind Trump, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, throws in the towel. Ramaswamy, a tech entrepreneur, is spending part of his fortune on the campaign and has been traveling tirelessly to every corner of Iowa for months. At the moment of truth, however, he achieved only 7.7% of the votes.

“We didn’t achieve the surprise we wanted tonight,” he justified. “As of this moment we are going to suspend this presidential campaign. There is no way for me to be the next president in the absence of things that we don’t want to happen in this country,” Ramaswamy has said, perhaps in reference to Trump’s possible sentencing or imprisonment. In fact, it was their only chance to remove the former president from the race and it has already been proven that the four indictments for 91 alleged crimes do not hold weight against him.

Ramaswamy had a big moment in the first debate, when he was the surprise factor. He played a kind of millennial Trumpist who spreads fraud and conspiracy theories. He tried to be a kind of copy of Trump, but the voters preferred the original.

The candidate received devastating attacks mainly from Chris Christie and Nikki Haley. “You’re nothing more than scum,” Nikki Haley told her in a debate after she mentioned her daughter.

Given that Ramaswamy has described himself as a Trump admirer and has defended his presidency and shares many of his views, it is likely that the candidate’s withdrawal will widen Trump’s lead in the nomination race. The retired candidate has clearly urged a vote for the former president, whom he insistently called “the best president of the 21st century” during the campaign. While not stopping praising Trump, he said a few days ago that Ramaswamy is a fraud.

Ramaswamy is more extreme than Trump on some issues. He has denied support for Ukraine and Israel and has circulated all kinds of hoaxes regarding the attack on the Capitol, climate change or the Great Replacement conspiracy theory. Their failure proves how difficult it is for any candidate other than Trump to leverage unconventional positions.

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According to AP data, with more than 95% counted, Trump has 51% of the vote, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with 21.2%, and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley with 19.1%. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is in fourth place with 7.7% of the vote, while support for incumbent candidates Ryan Binkley (pastor-businessman-politician) and Asa Hutchinson (former governor of Arkansas) is less than 1%. An advantage like this means almost knocking out his rivals in the first round.

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