Vivek Ramaswamy is “a performance artist” who appeals to the “dark parts of the American psyche,” according to Republican strategist and Fox News contributor Karl Rove.
The Republican strategist wrote in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal published Wednesday that Ramaswamy’s performance in both the first GOP presidential primary debate and previous interviews shows that he “is quick to disregard the truth when it’s politically expedient.”
Citing the 38-year-old’s quote from the debate, Rove said that a particular low point was when Ramaswamy said he was “the only person on the stage who isn’t bought and paid for,” arguing that he provided no proof to cement his claim. Rove said that Ramaswamy didn’t seem to care that his opponents had more than 123 combined years of public service, including serving as vice president, senator, congressman, Drug Enforcement Agency administrator and undersecretary for homeland security. He also noted that Ramaswamy has no record of public service.
Rove, a former chief political strategist in the George W. Bush administration, also slammed the biotech entrepreneur for his comments that appeared to cast doubt about the origins of the 9/11 attacks in an interview with The Atlantic.
“Mr. Ramaswamy claimed that he had been misquoted. Rove wrote in an op-ed that Ramaswamy was “a performance artist” who said outrageous things and smeared his opponents. He also appealed to the darker parts of American psyche. “There’s a GOP candidate already doing all of those things and worse.”
He had previously criticized him for his “robotic” and “over-the-top” performance at the first Republican debate. He previously slammed him for his “over-the-top” and “robotic” performance at the first Republican debate.
A new Morning Consult poll released Tuesday shows that before the debate, Ramaswamy’s unfavorability was at 12 percent, but the post-debate survey showed it spiking to 19 percent, a notable increase outside the 4 percentage-point margin of error.
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