GOP presidential candidate addressed range of issues in an exclusive interview with award-winning journalist John Solomon on Real America’s Voice
Centennial, CO — In an exclusive interview with John Solomon, GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said that the real divide in America is “between the majority of us who love this country and our founding ideals and a fringe minority that has the Democrat Party in a chokehold, who hates this country and what we stand for.”
The presidential hopeful joined Solomon in the first of a series of exclusive interviews with GOP presidential candidates, co-sponsored by the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC), which also included questions fielded by AMAC members. The next interview in the series will feature President Donald Trump, the current favorite in the race for the nomination who maintains an immense lead over his competitors.
In addition to the current culture wars, Ramaswamy addressed a wide variety of issues, including education, the COVID-19 pandemic response, the economy, foreign relations, and the border crisis.
ON COVID-19 AND FUTURE PANDEMIC RESPONSES
No restrictions on speech. That's the first thing. If we had been allowed to debate the merits of those lockdowns, we would not have locked down those schools and those cities. If we had been allowed to debate the merits of those vaccine mandates, I think we can now say with confidence that those vaccines would not have been mandated and we would have surfaced many of the side effects and risks earlier.
Give people the information, let them make the decisions for themselves, from masks to vaccines to whether or not they shop or send their kids to schools. That decision should belong to the people, it should never be made a centralized decision in government.
ON THE NATIONAL DEBT
I've taken similar approaches in the companies that I've built. Start with zero as the baseline and then ask what's actually necessary instead of just using last year's budget as the default… That's how I'm going to do it in Washington, D .C. Start with zero as the baseline and what we'll learn is we'll have a 75 % headcount reduction in the bureaucrats in this town in Washington, D.C. We will shut down redundant government agencies that should not exist.
Combine that with my energy policies. Drill, frack, burn coal, embrace nuclear energy. Use the wealth underneath the ground in our own country. That's how we address the national debt problem without having silly debates about cutting social security or Medicare for seniors.
ON THE BORDER CRISIS
Well, immediately I will send our troops to the border. Instead of using our own troops to protect against an invasion of somebody else's border, let's use our own military to defend against our own southern border and if necessary, our northern border too. But the best and easiest border policy, you know what it is? Stop creating the incentives for illegal migrants to actually come here in the first place.
ON TRANSGENDER ISSUE
Transgenderism, especially in kids, is a mental health disorder. When you're a boy and you think you're a girl, we don't do you a favor as adults when we affirm your confusion. That is not compassion. That is cruelty. And so what we need to do is, as adults, actually lead the way. Say that, you know what, those kids need help.
ON EDUCATION
The first and easiest thing I'm going to be able to do as commander in chief and I'll do it in month one is shut down the U.S. Department of Education. It should not exist. That $80 billion, put it back in the hands of parents. Parents determine the education of their children. That's a North Star principle, not the federal government, not any government. Yet today, what's happening is the federal government is using our taxpayer dollars to foist a one-sided radical agenda onto local schools across this country.
ON UKRAINE AND RUSSIA
Is Vladimir Putin a craven dictator? Yes, he is. But that does not mean Ukraine is good. This is a country that has banned 11 opposition parties. It is a country that has consolidated all media into one state media arm. Last week its president was praising a Nazi in his own ranks. They've threatened not to hold elections unless the US forks over more money.
Now let's level with them about the regions of the Donbass that are occupied. Luhansk, Donetsk. These are regions that are principally Russian speaking regions that are not even represented in Ukraine's government and haven't been for a decade and don't even view themselves as part of Ukraine.
So, against the backdrop of those facts, are we going to march our way into some major conflict? I don't think we should be. That does not advance American interests. It's not just the money. It's the risk of major conflict.
ON THE ECONOMY
One of the easiest steps we can take to address inflation and grow the economy is unlock American energy, abandon this climate cult that shackles the United States while leaving China untouched. Let's drill, frack, burn coal, embrace nuclear energy — all of the above for American energy production. Put people back to work by no longer using taxpayer money to pay them more to stay at home.
ON LAW AND ORDER
Put cops on the streets. Let them actually do their jobs. We've tackled this before in the 1990s. The question is not a technical challenge. We know how to do it. It's a challenge of political will that takes a president and leadership with a spine.
WATCH at https://americasvoice.news or by downloading the app on Apple or Android. Real America's Voice is also available on DISH Network, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus, and Roku.
The presidential hopeful joined Solomon in the first of a series of exclusive interviews with GOP presidential candidates, co-sponsored by the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC), which also included questions fielded by AMAC members. The next interview in the series will feature President Donald Trump, the current favorite in the race for the nomination who maintains an immense lead over his competitors.
In addition to the current culture wars, Ramaswamy addressed a wide variety of issues, including education, the COVID-19 pandemic response, the economy, foreign relations, and the border crisis.
ON COVID-19 AND FUTURE PANDEMIC RESPONSES
No restrictions on speech. That's the first thing. If we had been allowed to debate the merits of those lockdowns, we would not have locked down those schools and those cities. If we had been allowed to debate the merits of those vaccine mandates, I think we can now say with confidence that those vaccines would not have been mandated and we would have surfaced many of the side effects and risks earlier.
Give people the information, let them make the decisions for themselves, from masks to vaccines to whether or not they shop or send their kids to schools. That decision should belong to the people, it should never be made a centralized decision in government.
ON THE NATIONAL DEBT
I've taken similar approaches in the companies that I've built. Start with zero as the baseline and then ask what's actually necessary instead of just using last year's budget as the default… That's how I'm going to do it in Washington, D .C. Start with zero as the baseline and what we'll learn is we'll have a 75 % headcount reduction in the bureaucrats in this town in Washington, D.C. We will shut down redundant government agencies that should not exist.
Combine that with my energy policies. Drill, frack, burn coal, embrace nuclear energy. Use the wealth underneath the ground in our own country. That's how we address the national debt problem without having silly debates about cutting social security or Medicare for seniors.
ON THE BORDER CRISIS
Well, immediately I will send our troops to the border. Instead of using our own troops to protect against an invasion of somebody else's border, let's use our own military to defend against our own southern border and if necessary, our northern border too. But the best and easiest border policy, you know what it is? Stop creating the incentives for illegal migrants to actually come here in the first place.
ON TRANSGENDER ISSUE
Transgenderism, especially in kids, is a mental health disorder. When you're a boy and you think you're a girl, we don't do you a favor as adults when we affirm your confusion. That is not compassion. That is cruelty. And so what we need to do is, as adults, actually lead the way. Say that, you know what, those kids need help.
ON EDUCATION
The first and easiest thing I'm going to be able to do as commander in chief and I'll do it in month one is shut down the U.S. Department of Education. It should not exist. That $80 billion, put it back in the hands of parents. Parents determine the education of their children. That's a North Star principle, not the federal government, not any government. Yet today, what's happening is the federal government is using our taxpayer dollars to foist a one-sided radical agenda onto local schools across this country.
ON UKRAINE AND RUSSIA
Is Vladimir Putin a craven dictator? Yes, he is. But that does not mean Ukraine is good. This is a country that has banned 11 opposition parties. It is a country that has consolidated all media into one state media arm. Last week its president was praising a Nazi in his own ranks. They've threatened not to hold elections unless the US forks over more money.
Now let's level with them about the regions of the Donbass that are occupied. Luhansk, Donetsk. These are regions that are principally Russian speaking regions that are not even represented in Ukraine's government and haven't been for a decade and don't even view themselves as part of Ukraine.
So, against the backdrop of those facts, are we going to march our way into some major conflict? I don't think we should be. That does not advance American interests. It's not just the money. It's the risk of major conflict.
ON THE ECONOMY
One of the easiest steps we can take to address inflation and grow the economy is unlock American energy, abandon this climate cult that shackles the United States while leaving China untouched. Let's drill, frack, burn coal, embrace nuclear energy — all of the above for American energy production. Put people back to work by no longer using taxpayer money to pay them more to stay at home.
ON LAW AND ORDER
Put cops on the streets. Let them actually do their jobs. We've tackled this before in the 1990s. The question is not a technical challenge. We know how to do it. It's a challenge of political will that takes a president and leadership with a spine.
WATCH at https://americasvoice.news or by downloading the app on Apple or Android. Real America's Voice is also available on DISH Network, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus, and Roku.
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Contact:
Ed Kozak
media@americasvoice.news
917-887-9853 (mobile)
Ed Kozak
media@americasvoice.news
917-887-9853 (mobile)