TOI CORRESPONDENT FROM WASHINGTON:Donald Trump hadn’t even taken the oath of office as President. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) hadn’t even been formally constituted. But Vivek Ramaswamy, the junior of the two principals (Elon Musk is the other) in DOGE, has already been shown the door.
The Indian-American technopreneur, a Trump critics-turned- nationalist, has apparently fallen bad of the MAGA center and has been eased out of any part in the incoming Trump presidency.
Donald Trump Opening
Ramaswamy faced a flood of virtual racist abuse from MAGA radical after he suggested an educational and cultural change in the US if it is regain its technological predominance, remarks that were misconstrued as calling Americans ridiculous. Some MAGA protesters questioned his devotion to the US and asked the Ohio-born Trump nationalist to go back to India, from where his parents emigrated.
Ramaswamy’s analysis of the US system really came in defence of his DOGE comrade-in-arms Elon Musk who first triggered the MAGA reaction by suggesting the US needs to “double” the number of “high-skilled” immigrants it brings in through H-1B permits because of a “permanent lack of exceptional engineering talent” in Silicon Valley. Those notes were suddenly misconstrued by nationalist MAGA persons as calling Americans “retarded. “
MAGA reviewers excoriated Ramaswamy’s emphasis on education and skill, underscoring their important distinction with Eastern civilizations. ” No being cute, this is the deepest vision for America I’ve actually read. No nights, no Saturday night pictures. No happiness. Zero to look forward to but infinite grinding competition. Existence itself sacrificed. In its place, “success, ” wrote one.
Musk has then retrieved surface with MAGA but has thrown Ramaswamy under the vehicle, with Musk advisers complaining that he is not pulling his fat in DOGE. Ramaswamy went motionless for about a month after the Christmas-time incident on social media, where he is a famous presence, before resurfacing this past month to telegraph the “dawn of a novel era” on Monday.
Although Trump is said to have pressed him to take over vice-president JD Vance’s Senate seat from Ohio, that option was blocked by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who appointed his own loyalist to the post. Ramaswamy has now indicated he will run to succeed DeWine, who will leave office in 2026 because of term limits.
