Vivek Ramaswamy, the anti-ESG investment entrepreneur, had hinted that he was contemplating joining the Republican presidential primary fray, so it wasn’t a complete surprise when he announced on Tucker Carlson’s show that he’s decided to run. And why not? Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign showed that Americans were sick of politics as usual, and that particular illness is probably going to be much worse after four years of Biden. The big question, of course, is what Ramaswamy has to offer. I happen to think that he has a lot to offer.

Ramaswamy, 37, is a Midwesterner, having been born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, to parents who immigrated from Vadakkencherry in India. He attended a parochial high school, where he managed to be a scholar (class valedictorian), athlete (ranked junior tennis player), and artist (pianist).

Ramaswamy then attended Harvard as an undergrad, where he received a Bachelor’s in biology. He also holds a law degree from Yale. Since Ramaswamy’s conservative values seem to be rock solid, we probably shouldn’t hold those truly unfortunate credentials against him. (Same goes for Ron DeSantis, another Ivy Leaguer.)

In 2007, right out of college, Ramaswamy threw himself into capitalism, co-founding a technology company with Travis May that got acquired in only two years. While he attended Yale Law School (2010-2013), Ramaswamy was also a partner and co-manager of QVT Financial, working in its biotech division.

By 2014, Ramaswamy had moved on to found Roivant Sciences, a tech-based pharmaceutical company. Then, in 2020, he co-founded Chapter Medicare, a Medicare navigation platform for ordinary people.

Image: Vivek Ramaswamy. YouTube screen grab.

Along the way, Ramaswamy got a snootful of wokeness in corporate America (something American Thinker routinely addresses as a social and economic plague). In 2021, he published Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam, which promptly became a bestseller. (Tucker Carlson’s support was undoubtedly helpful.)

Then, in 2022, Ramaswamy took a practical step to counter the climate and social justice plague warping corporate America (a trend that goes under the label “ESG,” which stands for “Environmental, Social, and Corporate governance”). With backing from libertarian tech billionaire Peter Thiel and author and politician J.D. Vance, among others, Ramaswamy launched Strive Asset Management as an alternative to leftist ESG funds such as BlackRock and Vanguard. (As a reminder, those two corporations have extraordinary power thanks to the companies they control and the leftist ideology they push.)

Thanks to all these successful ventures, Ramaswamy is worth an estimated $500 million.

So, Ramaswamy is intelligent, energetic, self-disciplined, well-rounded, and possesses the Midas touch. But what qualifies him to be president? Three things spring to mind:

First, it seems Ramaswamy is genuinely committed to the classic American ethos. As his announcement on Tucker shows, he supports meritocracy, racial color blindness, self-governance, de-coupling from China, a strong foreign policy, and a viable national border. On the flip side, he opposes diversity and gender madness, rampant secularism, and anti-American foreign and economic policies. In other words, he pings everything conservatives look for:

Naturally, Ramaswamy is already being attacked from the right as a Soros or WEF creation. However, Bonchie, at Red State, masterfully shoots down those claims, so I won’t repeat what he says. With a $500 million fortune at age 37, Ramaswamy probably isn’t beholden to many people.

Second, as I noted in the introduction, the Biden administration has shown us what politicians will do to America. We have a truly corrupt political class, and it’s likely that, as happened in 2016 after eight years of Obama, Americans will look for a competent person rather than a politically practiced person. Moreover, while Trump was done in by his own naivete and habit of trusting the wrong people (and being too nice to Democrats, as was the case with his letting Hillary walk), it’s likely that Ramaswamy, having witnessed Trump’s travails, will avoid those mistakes.

Third, Ramaswamy has incredible vitality. When you compare him to the carefully measured, consultant-prepped statements from those already in the wings (e.g., Nikki Haley’s announcement) or to Biden’s incoherent decrepitude, there’s something refreshing about Ramaswamy’s vivid energy.

As matters now stand, Ramaswamy is a long shot, but given his credentials, I think he’s worth taking seriously. After all, when I look at the 2024 field, I already know that I intensely dislike or simply think are inadequate some of the Republicans who have already announced or will announce their primary ambitions.

However, when it comes to Trump and DeSantis, who are currently the frontrunners by a wide margin, I remain agnostic. I would be willing to vote for either. Now that Ramaswamy is in the mix, I’d happily see him as the Veep for either Trump or DeSantis and, depending on how the primaries play out, I can currently envision him standing on his own at the top of the Republican ticket, too.