“Astoundingly arrogant,” “irritating,” “glib,” “smarmy,” “obnoxious,” “a zero,” “preening,” and “completely bananas,” according to Times roundtable. But is that what winning looks like now? Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
During one of several explosive exchanges between Vivek Ramaswamy and his Republican opponents in the first debate of the 2024 presidential-primary season, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie called Ramaswamy an “amateur” who “sounds like Chat GPT.” Ramaswamy met this volley, as well as a cascading chorus of whoops and laughter and “oohs” from the crowd, with an impervious smile and a barb about Christie literally embracing Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy. The shield of his smile had to be deployed all night long, as his rivals took obvious umbrage at the presence of this rude political neophyte and attacked him with relish — an uncanny replay of the dynamic that governed Donald Trump’s debates in 2016. But nothing could dampen Ramaswamy’s spirit or dim that grin. To borrow a line from FDR, Ramaswamy seemed to be saying to his rivals that he welcomed their hatred.
Ramaswamy, a wealthy entrepreneur who muscled and hustled his way from obscurity onto a debate stage that notably did not include the race’s front-runner, Trump, is adept at borrowing lines. Christie’s jab was in part a reference to his robotic, rat-a-tat delivery of aphorisms that resemble a cross between traditional conservative know-nothingism and Elon Musk’s brand of Silicon Valley know-everythingism. (“Fossil fuels are a requirement for human prosperity!”) But Christie was also calling out Ramaswamy’s naked appropriation of one of Obama’s most famous quotes from the 2008 campaign, with Ramaswamy introducing himself to the Republican faithful in Milwaukee as a “skinny guy with a funny last name.” His crisp hand gestures and tight little head shakes were vintage Obama, yet the words coming out of his mouth were “Reverse racism is racism.” It really did feel like Ramaswamy was a computer program trawling the past two decades of American history to cobble together a ruthless striver’s idea of a political persona, some unholy amalgamation of Obama, Trump, and Musk.
The press has been about as hostile to Ramaswamy as the rest of the Republican field. In a New York Timesroundtable after the debate, commentators from across the ideological spectrum described him as “astoundingly arrogant,” “irritating,” “glib,” “smarmy,” “obnoxious,” “a zero,” “preening,” and “completely bananas.” The conservative columnist Bret Stephens said Ramaswamy “seems to think he’s Jesus,” and not in the meek-shall-inherit-the-Earth way. There is a sense in the Establishment media that because Ramaswamy is such a copycat, particularly of Trump, that he represents no broader threat or significance, that he’s just another wannabe swimming in the MAGA slipstream. The Princeton historian Kevin Kruse tweeted, “What’s funny is that Vivek is going to campaign with furious Debate Bro energy for six nonstop months and then Trump will casually refer to him as ‘Rama-smarmy, or whatever’ and he’ll immediately turn to dust.”
But I would posit that perhaps Ramaswamy signifies something more. If you are a youngish person looking to get into politics or some other career of public renown, it’s only natural that you would model yourself on the people in your lifetime who have had ostentatious success in those areas, people like Obama and Trump and Musk. It seems likely that, in the future, we will see a lot more politicians like Vivek Ramaswamy.
Ramaswamy’s youth is important, as American democracy slides into gerontocracy. So is the context of the debate, where you could see this lithe figure with taut skin and a full head of not-gray hair antagonize and fluster the leathery dinosaurs that, if the polls are to be believed, he is already eclipsing. Ramaswamy flaunted his age at every turn, beginning his closing statement with a huge flex: “I was born in 1985” — which makes him the youngest presidential aspirant of my own lifetime, indeed one who is several years younger than me, a horrific personal milestone for which I will never forgive him. His liveliness irked his opponents as well, particularly former vice-president Mike Pence, who showed his irrepressible counterpart nothing but disdain in what read to me as the way Pence would talk to Trump if Trump had less power. “We don’t need to bring in a rookie,” Pence scoffed.
In response, Ramaswamy took great joy in exploiting Pence’s age and experience, which came through in Pence’s delivery (the long statesman’s pause), his appearance (Ken doll whose smooth plastic veneer has gone a bit sludge-y), and constant references to the old deities of the Republican Party (God and Ronald Reagan). “Some others like you might have a ‘Morning in America’ speech,” Ramaswamy told Pence. “But it is not morning in America. We live in a dark moment.” When the discussion turned to the war in Ukraine, which saw Rawaswamy taking passionate fire from all sides for his opposition to additional U.S. aid for the Ukrainians, he said to Pence, “I have a news flash: The U.S.S.R. does not exist anymore.” He was intent on drawing a line in the sand between ancient history and the boundless future. And in doing so, he happily smashed the Republican Party’s idols as Trump had done before him, the jeers raining down on him for his anti-war stance reminiscent of the stern admonitions Trump received in 2016 for saying the Iraq War was a mistake. Though if Trump was a flattening bulldozer, Ramaswamy was nimbler, more precise — a guided missile.
He could also perform the equivalent of wading into a brawl and inviting all comers, calling his rivals “super-PAC puppets” and declaring, “I’m the only person on this stage who isn’t bought and paid for,” an audacious line that drew a scandalized “Whoa whoa whoa” and “That’s ridiculous” from people who very much are bought and paid for. In the melee over the Ukraine war, he turned to former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, a hawk, and said, “Nikki, I wish you well on your future career on the boards of Lockheed and Raytheon,” a rebuke so impolite and so close to home that Haley was left red-faced and sputtering. In appreciating and even admiring Ramaswamy’s sheer disrespect for his fellow Republicans, I realize I am falling into the same trap that ensnared so many liberal journalists the last time this happened, when Trump seemed so attractive because he was demolishing politicians I also wanted to see demolished.
Still, the appeal of the iconoclast remains, and Ramaswamy’s primary influences, the Ur-trolls Trump and Musk, let it be known that game recognizes game. “Vivek is increasingly compelling,” Musk tweeted during the debate. “This answer gave Vivek Ramaswamy a big WIN in the debate because of a thing called TRUTH,” Trump posted on Truth Social, referring to Ramaswamy’s claim that Trump was the “best president of the 21st century.” Obama has not deigned to comment on a politician who is destined to be a member of Trump’s entourage, and maybe even a partner on his presidential ticket, but Obama’s influence on Ramaswamy is fascinating, a sprinkling of a feel-good, only-in-America story on an otherwise tiresome recapitulation of Trump’s “American carnage” speech. Obama, too, exhibited a preternatural confidence that his critics described as “arrogant,” “obnoxious,” “preening,” and worse; Obama, too, reveled in his relative youth, swishing three-pointers on the campaign trail and jogging up the steps to Air Force One; Obama, too, played the insider-outsider sweeping away the fossilized vestiges of an older era.
It’s unclear whether Ramaswamy’s policy positions, such as they are — “The climate change agenda is a hoax!” — will have much lasting appeal in American politics. But surely his style, no matter how much it may grate on the ears and annoy finer sensibilities, is on the ascendance. No longer will politicians be as slow, as pious, as patriotic as Mike Pence, who came of age in the pre-Trump world; they’ll be quick to let the insults fly, fearless in their misguided convictions, and scornful of their elders and betters. To believe otherwise is to believe that Trump, especially, is a one-off phenomenon, that we will one day return to having a slate of “normal” candidates running to be the Republican nominee for president, when so many incentives point in the other direction: toward politicians who are younger, hungrier, meaner, wilder.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
