US elections: Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who announced the end of his campaign for presidential run in January this year, was told by a conservative media pundit and author that she wouldn’t have voted for him because he is an Indian.
Ann Coulter was speaking to Ramaswamy on his podcast, ‘The TRUTH Podcast’ when she made the statement that has been widely panned. Ramaswamy reacted to her comment too but lauded her for speaking her mind.
After he introduced her in the podcast, Coulter said, “Thanks for having me, that was a fantastic opening monologue. I too am a fan of yours, so I’m going to make a point of disagreeing with you so 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…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. We’ll get back to that.”
She went on to explain as Ramaswamy continued listening to her with a neutral expression. Coulter said that the “core national identity” in America is of the WASP – White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. She said it does not mean that a “Sri Lankan or a Japanese or an Indian” can’t be taken in but the “core around which the nation’s values are formed is the WASP”.
Coulter said that America has never had a president who didn’t have at least partial English ancestry. “We’ve only had one Catholic president. There was only one Catholic signatory to the Declaration of Independence. They were all not only protestants, but pretty much Presbyterian,” she said.
Ramaswamy argued that an immigrant or children of immigrants have greater loyalty to America than a seventh-generation American who hates the country.
“Ann Coulter 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. It was a riveting hour. The TRUTH podcast is back,” said Ramaswamy, sharing a clip of the conversation.
In another response, Ramaswamy said that citizenship is about “loyalty” to one nation, which is why dual citizenship is an incoherent concept. “But in America it’s not about ethnicity either,” he said.