If Vivek Ramaswamy becomes president, he wants to tap Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and former President Donald Trump for advice.
When asked on Sunday why he would be more successful than Trump, the 2024 hopeful said he would ‘build on the foundation’ laid by the ex-president and seek out his mentor so as not to lose time to learn the same lessons.
At an Iowa town hall on Friday — just two days after the first Republican debate — the political outsider was asked who he would seek advice from if elected. He said Musk would be one of those people.
“I’ve enjoyed getting to know Elon Musk better recently,” Ramaswamy said. “I expect him to be an interesting adviser to me because he fired 75 percent of Twitter employees.”
This was significant for the biotech entrepreneur as he has repeatedly stated that he plans to carry out mass layoffs in the federal government if elected to the White House.
Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said on Sunday he would want to bring in Elon Musk as an adviser if elected president.
Musk had a conversation with Ramaswamy on Twitter during which they discussed a range of topics, including the CEO disagreeing with the 2024 hope on climate change.
In polls around third place, Ramaswamy was seen as the star of the Republican debate where viewers were impressed with the longtime underdog’s ability to deliver a clear message and take a barrage of attacks from other candidates on stage.
Despite his praise for Trump throughout his presidential campaign so far, Ramaswamy admitted he was referring to President edx as well as former Georgia State Rep. Stacey Abrams. when he wrote in his book Nation of Victims that “nobody likes bad losers”. ‘
Trump and Abrams, a Democrat, tried to challenge after losing their respective elections that the process was conducted unfairly.
The 38-year-old self-made millionaire and father of two is believed to be the first-ever millennial elected to the White House and has been criticized for his age and inexperience.
“I think the fact that I’m from a different generation, Chuck, will be an asset,” Ramaswamy told NBC News Meet the Press host Chuck Todd on Sunday morning.
“I am able to reach young Americans. I’m able to reach people who haven’t traditionally been molded into the mold of Republican politics,” he added. “I’m not even talking about Republicans and Democrats. And so I think I I will be able to build a broader moral mandate across generations that will help unite Americans around the America First agenda, rather than making it a strictly partisan affair.
He also reiterated his previous comments, saying he would like Trump to be a close adviser if he becomes president.
“We can learn from this experience,” he said of Trump’s term alone. “I want to build on the foundation laid by Trump.” Frankly, I will invite him as an adviser and mentor. I don’t want to relearn the same lessons, I want to pick up where he left off by attacking the administrative state.
Ramaswamy was seen as a highlight of the first Republican debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday (pictured), where he came under attack from several other career political candidates on stage alongside him
He insisted: “I think it takes an outsider to take on this administrative state. But I also think it has to be a foreigner who has a deep and personal understanding of the laws and Constitution of that country.
“I think Trump was, in many cases, misled by his executive advisers, for example, who said you couldn’t fire federal government employees because of civil service protections,” he added. Ramaswamy during his interview on the Sunday morning show.
“Mass layoffs,” he assured, “is absolutely what I will bring to the Washington DC bureaucracy.”
On tapping Musk for an advisory role, Ramaswamy told Iowa Republicans he wanted to bring in people with “a new, pristine feel” to help him navigate new territory.
Musk made massive layoffs after taking over Twitter last year – something Ramaswamy admires.
The Ohio candidate has expressed his desire to shut down several agencies within the federal government, including the Department of Education, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) .
Ramaswamy took part in a virtual chat with Musk last month. During that conversation, Musk described himself as a moderate voter and admitted that he disagreed with Ramaswamy’s perspective on climate change.
Musk also got involved in the Republican primary process when he hosted a conversation on Twitter Spaces with Florida Governor Ron Desantis in May as he announced his candidacy for the White House.
