Vivek Ramaswamy if you asked me who he was a few months ago, I would have been stumped. However, as of now, anyone can recognize that he’s a heavyweight candidate for the GOP and could successfully give President Joe Biden a run for his money. 

Simply put, he appeals to many Americans. When he can say that he graduated from Harvard as an undergrad, graduated from Yale Law School and created a successful biopharmaceutical company, there’s no debate that he has “lived the full arc of the American dream,” as Ramaswamy himself put it.

Yet his success story can’t disillusion us from the truth. Ramaswamy has abandoned his humble immigrant roots for a path to power. 

He made a bold claim at an Iowa campaign stop: “I’m sure the boogeyman white supremacists exist somewhere in America. I have just never met him … maybe I will meet a unicorn sooner. And maybe those exist, too.” 

Perhaps his racial colorblindness has made him blind to the ubiquitous presence of white supremacy in American society. Or maybe he’s lucky enough to never know the feeling of being targeted for his race. But his statement misses the mark on how the average person of color feels about their place in America today. 

He made this egregious statement in the background of a horrific racially-motivated shooting committed by a white supremacist in Jacksonville, Florida. While he eventually did acknowledge the motivations of the gunman in a CNN interview, the fact that he claimed more racism comes from the left to deflect the danger of right-wing white supremacy is concerning.

By avoiding talking about the dangers of white supremacy and instead promoting a discussion on the problem of “wokeism” in this country, he has positioned himself as a candidate who will use any type of useful rhetoric that will get him into power. He’s also following the concerning trend of Republican politicians focusing on low blows to discredit their opponents.

In the aftermath of the first Republican presidential debate, Ramaswamy’s campaign decided to counter Nikki Haley’s scathing attack on his foreign policy stance by making fun of her Indian birth name. On his campaign website, he calls her “…lying, Nimrata Randhawa” to counter her claim that he doesn’t support Israel.

Ramaswamy has potential to be a great candidate. He has the charisma and the youthful vigor necessary to make a positive impact as a politician. It’s unfortunate he has chosen to be a candidate with a vision for his future, not our country’s, and copied the same childish ad hominem attacks former President Donald Trump has used.

With his proposal on raising the voting age, he missed an opportunity to make inroads with younger voters like himself. He’s abandoned all hope in appealing to younger voters, preferring to raise the voting age to 25 and proposing that those who want to vote should take a test or serve in the military. He claims that raising the voting age will help younger people with restoring “their national pride.”

He’s right when he says the “absence of national pride is a serious threat to our country.” 

But he forgets that the absence of national pride within American society is a consequence of our decline as a country. Our politicians have stopped representing the average person in favor of appeasing big business and raking in campaign money for their next election. And he forgets that most Americans of voting age are disillusioned with the direction our country is headed in. Should we force every voter to take a test to “prove” their pride for our country?

His smiling face and commanding voice give the appearance that he’s a new face trying to improve our country. But, he’s part of the same old group of politicians making empty promises to get their foot in the door of politics.

Nathaniel Dela Peña is a 20-year-old political science and history senior from Alexandria.