How Vivek Ramaswamy thinks he’s got Trump & DeSantis beat

The 2024 Republican presidential primary is off to a bit of a slow start. Donald Trump and former governors Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson have entered the race, but other likely candidates, such as Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence, are still sitting on the sidelines. Almost every Republican senator who flirted with the idea seems likely to pass, with the notable exception of Tim Scott, who’s been making stops in Iowa and New Hampshire. Into this vacuum has come Vivek Ramaswamy, who stated his intentions in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. He declared that he was running to forge “an inspiring national identity that dilutes the woke agenda to irrelevance.” In a subsequent interview with POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman, Vivek added that, “The GOP has a historic opportunity to answer the question of what it means to be an American.” You probably don’t know much about Vivek Ramaswamy – he’s a young entrepreneur from Ohio who’s never run for anything. But there are a few reasons to keep an eye on him: He says he’s willing to spend millions of dollars of an estimated half-billion dollar fortune on the race He’s a regular presence on the Fox News Channel, which is the top information source for Republican primary voters And he seems to be putting together a serious campaign made up of political pros Vivek swears he has a plan to break out of the single digits and take down Donald Trump. On this episode of Playbook Deep Dive, Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza joins Vivek at the restaurant Art & Soul to learn whether he is completely delusional — or whether he just might be onto something. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.Vivek Ramaswamy is a biotech entrepreneur and Republican presidential contender. Afra Abdullah is an associate producer for POLITICO audio.Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio. Alex Keeney is a senior producer for POLITICO audio.Jenny Ament is the executive producer for POLITICO audio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices