Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy said Wednesday he was the best candidate to unite the country while still advancing policies championed by former President Donald Trump.
“I personally think Donald Trump was an excellent president. I think that his defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016 was probably the single most important political event in the 21st century in this country,” Ramaswamy told “Special Report” host Bret Baier.
“But I believe I am better positioned to take the America First agenda even further than Trump did. I think it’s a fact, Bret. We have to admit it. I don’t blame Trump or anybody else for this – 30% of this country becomes psychiatrically ill when he is in the White House,” he continued.
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Ramaswamy contended that as a relatively fresh face who hasn’t been met with the same pushback despite advancing similar policies, he was in a better position to unite the country. (RELATED: Ramaswamy Claims Deep State ‘Too Rotten’ To Fix ‘From The Top’, Says He Stands For ‘Revolution’ Not ‘Reform’)
While Ramaswamy argued that either Trump or DeSantis could probably beat Biden in the upcoming 2024 election, he maintained that he was the only candidate who could secure a Reagan-like landslide for the GOP.
“I’m the candidate who is not just running from something. I’m leading us to run to something. To our vision of what it means to be an American. That’s bringing young people along with us in droves in this campaign. I am the youngest person ever to run in the Republican Party. But I think it’s more than just my age. I think it’s about having – I see the problems that we see in the country but I still believe we are on our way up. And we see that in the data where 40% of the donors to our campaign, actually, are first-time ever donors to the GOP in any form compared to 2% for normal candidates,” Ramaswamy stated.
Ramaswamy further contended that he would lead, not by vengeance or grievance, but by being uncompromising on moral foundations.