![The first Republican primary debate devolved into a yelling match between ]former Vice President Mike Pence and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday night. [Screenshot Fox News]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Screenshot-2023-08-23-at-9.34.06-PM-e1692840905996.png "The first Republican primary debate devolved into a yelling match between ]former Vice President Mike Pence and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday night. [Screenshot Fox News]")
The Republican candidate I liked the most, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has a stalled campaign. After much fanfare when he announced, his campaign has taken off like a herd of turtles.
Maybe knowing DeSantis was the number one contender for the Republican nomination, the mainstream media had enough time to trash (aka tenderize) him. Much was made of his awkward attempt at a Twitter announcement that was full of technical glitches. Biden plans on avoiding such communication issues; he has notified his team that he will use a Ham radio.
DeSantis did have a good first GOP debate. If his campaign picks up steam and he wins the nomination to take on Biden, the race could be best described as a classic: The Tortoise and the Hair Plugs.
To detractors of Trump, you must realize it is not the person Donald Trump his supporters love so much. It is the big government left that they hate so much. They feel Trump is the candidate most likely to do something about it, especially this time. Laid bare in the songs “Try that in a Small Town” and “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Trump is a proxy for the anger in Middle America toward Washington and the big government its denizens now run for their own benefit, not ours.
Joe Biden is like Senator Robert Byrd (the Democratic KKK Senator from West Virginia), as Democrats are given immunity from their own racial statements. Biden once said, “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.” Instead of Biden’s normal pathetic gaffes, that statement may have been prophetic. Biden might be getting ready to go into a general election against a young man with a “slight Indian accent,” Vivek Ramaswamy.
Ramaswamy is a brilliant, 38-year-old, second generation American success story. He has libertarian leanings, which I like, and a funny sounding name, as he admits. We are all just getting to know him, and what we see is great. If I say “Ramaswamy” slowly three times in a deep voice, my coffee table book, Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, levitates.
We won’t know if Vivek Ramaswamy is a real threat to Biden and his Democrat Deep State until his polling numbers are high enough to provoke a DOJ/FBI SWAT Team pre-dawn raid of his home. But for now, his trajectory is upward.
Vivek speaks well and with conviction. He is not lobbyist-obligated or PAC-dependent as the other career GOP national candidates are. He has the courage of his convictions; he was the first to raise his hand at the GOP debate in answer to a question the rest of the candidates had to look around the room to see how to answer.
The 2024 election should be won by the GOP. They have better positions on most of the major issues except one, abortion. The GOP is better on taxes, spending, crime, the border, Fentanyl, trade, education, inflation and the economy. They will lose, like they did the Senate in 2022, if they push their personal views on abortion any further. Vivek seems to be the most libertarian one on this highly personal issue, an issue which should have little or no government involvement.
Democrats make everything about race. On the GOP debate stage was Tim Scott, an African American who, if elected, will be the first bachelor in the White House since Bill Clinton. They had Nikki Haley, a woman who, like Vivek Ramaswamy, is Indian American. (Former) GOP candidate Frances Suarez is Cuban-American, and Trump is orange. I am not sure how the left keeps score, but I guess we get credit for a “person of color” for five of them.
The Dems will accuse anyone from the GOP of being a white supremacist, but it appears the GOP has the most diverse group of white supremacists — ever.
Unfortunately, what we are now looking at is a Biden-Trump rematch. Biden is the type of elderly grandparent who should have the keys to his vintage Corvette taken from him by Hunter. Biden would be the type of elderly person who would fall prey to a telemarketing scam. Trump is still the guy who likely owns the telemarking company.
We deserve better. Vivek Ramaswamy might be the way to go.
A libertarian syndicated op-ed humorist and award-winning author, Ron does commentary on radio and TV. He can be contacted at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.