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Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is all set to contest the 2024 US presidential election.
On February 21, the 37-year-old personality announced his decision during a live interview on the Tucker Carlson show, with a promise to "put merit back" and stop the country's dependency on China.
“We are in the middle of this national identity crisis where we have celebrated our differences for so long that we forgot all the ways we are really just the same as Americans bound by a common set of ideals that set this nation into motion 250 years ago."
Vivek Ramaswamy's parents migrated from Kerala, India, to the United States. Born on August 9, 1985, he is a native of southwest Ohio, and his father worked at a General Electric plant in Ohio while his mother was a geriatric psychiatrist.
A person must be at least 35 years old to run for president of the United States. Moreover, the person has to be a natural-born citizen of the country and a resident for 14 years.
Vivek Ramaswamy called "wokeism" a threat
While speaking with Tucker Carlson, Vivek Ramaswamy called the idea of "wokeism" a national threat.
"That's why I am proud to say tonight that I am running for United States president to revive those ideals in this country. I think we need to put ‘merit' back into ‘America' in every spirit of our lives."
Ramaswamy added that if elected, he would remove affirmative action in "every sphere of American life."
Vivek's announcement comes days after Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, announced her presidential campaign earlier this month. Haley shared that she will run against former President Donald Trump as a Republican party candidate.
Further in his interview, Ramaswamy stated that he is putting "America first" and shared his plans.
“I'm all for putting America first, but in order to put America first, we have to first rediscover what America is. And to me, those are these basic rules of the road that set this nation into motion from meritocracy to free speech, to self-governance over aristocracy."
Ramaswamy established Roivant Sciences in 2014 and managed the biggest biotech IPOs in 2015 and 2016, resulting in successful clinical trials in numerous disease categories that led to FDA-approved pharmaceuticals.
Aside from founding other successful technological and healthcare firms, he introduced Strive Asset Management in 2022, which aims to restore the voices of general Americans in the sphere of the economy.
Vivek said that the US is now dealing with external threats from China and that the US intends to deal with the issue without engaging in "pointless wars."
"That's gonna require some sacrifice. It's gonna require a declaration of independence from China and complete decoupling. And that's not gonna be easy. It's gonna require some inconvenience.”
He added that China is "violating" the US's sovereignty, referencing the recent spotting of spy balloons. Vivek Ramaswamy stated that the nation's continued co-dependence on the economy for a modern way of life was the reason it did not shoot the balloon down.
