Vivek Ramaswamy is the millionaire millennial running for US president. Is he running towards a career low?

• The 38-year-old political novice is one of the America’s wealthiest millennials and made his fortune as a biotech entrepreneur.
• The Harvard-educated son of Indian immigrants with a successful business pedigree presents himself as an anti-establishment outsider.
• Associated Press reporter Bill Barrow says that Ramaswamy wants to be the candidate that “can return Trump’s ‘America First’ vision to the White House without the baggage”.

Trump’s biggest fan

• Ramaswamy is a huge admirer of Donald Trump, calling him the “best president of the 21st century”.
• But in a clear attempt to differentiate himself from the former president, he has sought to put forward policies that are more extreme than Trump’s agenda.

No more support for Ukraine

• Writing on the American Conservative website he proclaimed a desire to follow the foreign policy path of Richard Nixon’s “cold and sober realism”.
• Ramaswamy provided an illustration of how this would manifest itself under his presidency.
• Citing the war in Ukraine and how his administration would negotiate a deal to end the conflict he wrote: “A good deal requires all parties to get something out of it.

Republican supporters?

• His nationalistic populist foreign policy agenda and deeply conservative positions are now the hallmarks of the modern Republican party.
• Yet polling ahead of the Iowa Republican presidential caucuses on January 15 2024 is not positive for Ramaswamy.
• He is struggling to resonate with Republican voters and has been languishing in the polls, far behind Trump and other challengers.

Following in Trump’s shadow

• Some observers have stressed Ramaswamy’s difficulties rest with his inability to consistently embody the outsider image that he wants to project.
• So it looks like he is heading out of the race, with egg on his face.

Richard Hargy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.