In a shocking clip that aired on former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s podcast , the right-wing commentator Ann Coulter unabashedly admitted that she would not have voted for Ramaswamy because he’s Indian.
Ramaswamy, who was born in the United States to parents who emigrated from India, hosts the podcast Truth. The episode, which was entitled “the N word: Nationalism,” included many shocking moments of blatant racism.
According to the Daily Beast, after Ramaswamy warmly welcomed Coulter to his show, the conservative media pundit thanked him for having her on by saying: “I too am a fan of yours, though I’m going to make a point of disagreeing with you so that it will be fun. You are so bright and articulate—and I guess I can call you articulate since you’re not an American Black, can’t say that about them, that’s derogatory.”
The two launched into a conversation about American identity and citizenship, the New York Post reported that Coulter claimed to Ramaswamy that the national identity is the WASP- White Anglo-Saxon Protestants.
“I agreed with many many things you said during — in fact, probably more than most other candidates — when you were running for president, but I still would not have voted for you, because you’re an Indian,” she said.
However, in Ramaswamy’s efforts to promote the podcast on X, not only did he refrain from criticizing Coulter, he expressed his respect for her.
“@AnnCoulter told me flat-out to my face that she couldn’t vote for me ‘because you’re an Indian,’ even though she agreed with me more than most other candidates. I disagree with her but respect she had the guts to speak her mind,” he wrote on X.
Huffpost reported that Ramaswamy’s post to social media invited backlash from other politicians. Ted Lieu, the representative of California’s 36th congressional district who emigrated from Taiwan, wrote that while he is not surprised by Ann Coulter’s remarks, he is disappointed in Ramaswamy.
“I wasn’t surprised that Ann Coulter made a racist statement about Vivek,” Lieu posted on X. “What surprised me is the weakness and lack of self-respect of @VivekGRamaswamy. He’s actually promoting this episode and praising the person who spewed raw racism to his face. I feel sorry for Vivek.”
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I think Vivek Ramaswamy prefers to hash out the underlying issues, and he is tough enough to take on the opposing views through dialogue, much like the celebrated Martin Luther King Jr did.
As for “Welcoming” racist views (as author Rachel Lu claims) the article takes a fifth grade view of a twelfth grade dialogue, COMPLETELY MISSING Ramaswamy’s take on the guest’s views. See below –
ANN COULTER: “There is a core national identity that is the identity of the WASP and that doesn’t mean we can’t take anyone else in, a Sri Lankan, or a Japanese, or an Indian, but the core around which the nation’s values are formed is the WASP,” she said.
She further went on to add, “We’ve never had a president who didn’t have at least partial English ancestry. Never. We’ve only had one Catholic president [sic]. There was only one Catholic signatory to the Declaration of Independence. They were all not only protestants, but pretty much Presbyterian.”
VIVEK RAMASWAMY: @AnnCoulter told me flat-out to my face that she couldn’t vote for me ‘because you’re an Indian,’ even though she agreed with me more than most other candidates,” he wrote. “I disagree with her but respect she had the guts to speak her mind.”
Author RACHEL LU completely misrepresents Vivek Ramaswamy’s position and trys to assign an unsupportable re-interpretation of Vivek’s position, and views, which Vivek has made well known.
I am disappointed that AsAmNews allows such poor reporting without a disclaimer !
The fact that Vivek is willing to engage in dialogue with people who hold such opposing views is reflective of America’s past reasoned dialogue in overcoming the “Jim Crow” era of of racial injustice.
The example set by Martin Luther King should be the gold standard to measure our nation’s leadership against, Vivek holds up in good standing with his reflection of the lessons & aspirations voiced by Martin Luther King.