Tucker on Twitter, episode 17: Vivek Ramaswamy ('We can handle the truth!')

Time for another episode of Tucker on Twitter, and this time he is interviewing Vivek Ramaswamy:

Ep. 17 Vivek Ramaswamy is the youngest Republican presidential candidate ever. He's worth listening to. pic.twitter.com/9wGqptHdto

We admit we would have guessed that this episode might not end up being highly rated just because it is a more ordinary interview. We’re not saying Carlson shouldn’t do deep dive interviews with presidential candidates. These kinds of long form interviews are positively good for the Republic. But we would have guessed that it wouldn’t rate as high.

But we are already being proven wrong. This episode has been up since 5:10 p.m., and it has accumulated just over 9.4 million views as of this writing. So, this episode will probably do pretty well, if not ‘Andrew Tate’ well.

Incidentally, the Robert Kennedy Jr. episode has gotten to 9.7 million views as of this writing.

As to the substance of what he is saying we aren’t going to go over all of it but two things leapt out at us. First, he seems to be saying that if things keep going they way they are, we are going to have a bloody revolution. He was not that blunt, but that seems to be what he is saying. Just the other day, we talked about how the ‘Revolution of 1800’ (i.e. the election of Jefferson to the presidency) was a revolution of ballots rather than bullets. Well, Ramaswamy seems to be saying that if the 2024 election isn’t a revolution of ballots, we might get one of bullets. Not a great thought, but that doesn’t mean he is wrong.

The other thing that leapt out to us is he basically said that we can’t have secrecy in government. Now, we would be first to agree that the government keeps too many secrets and that needs to be reformed. Like we have a hard time imagining any scenario where the Government is justified in holding back any information about the assassination of President Kennedy. But one can look back at history and see instances where secrecy was justified and even arguably necessary.

For instance, any time you are reading a history book and you see it say something like ‘and then suddenly, we found the enemy’s plans’ you should be suspicious. Very often when the history books say things like that, it is a cover story released by the government designed to cover up essentially spycraft. One of the more famous examples of that is that during WWII, we (meaning the allies) got the Enigma device. This was essentially a code machine and having it, and some computer technology, allowed us to essentially break German codes and see what they are saying when they don’t think we understood. It is not an exaggeration to say this might have made the difference between victory and defeat. But we not only didn’t tell the American public that we had this and even invented cover stories to explain how we knew things we shouldn’t have been able to just guess (‘and then suddenly we found the enemies plans!’) during the war, but we didn’t tell the American people for decades after WWII. Why? Because it turned out that many of those Warsaw Pact countries used the Enigma device, too. According to this author’s professors, the truth wasn’t revealed until the 1970’s.

Or let’s take another example from World War II. As we got ready for D-Day, one of the critical elements of that preparation was basically doing our best to convince the Germans that it wouldn’t be at Normandy, that the invasion was going to take place further North in the Calais region. We went as far as to have a small number of troops doing their best to make it look like they were a larger group of troops, to have inflatable tanks that we hoped would look real enough to German spies, and we even put General Patton in charge of this fake army to sell it. Reportedly Patton was pissed about the whole thing because he wanted to be involved with the real invasion, but he swallowed his pride and played his part. That definitely involved secrecy and deception, and it probably involved more than a fair bit of lying to Americans. But if the Germans figured out where the invasion was actually going to happen, there is a good chance it would have failed.

Now in both examples, we think every reasonable person 1) recognizes that the deception is justified and 2) isn’t terribly upset about the difference between what we were told and the truth. And we tend to think that is the test our public officials should apply. As we said the other day, free and fair elections depends, in part, on the free flow of information to the people. Official secrecy is an exception to that principle. The fact that secrecy is occasionally necessary is one of the reasons why we have to have representative democracy, rather than direct democracy—so that our representatives can learn the things that the public can’t and respond appropriately. So, yes, some secrecy is necessary, but we think the test is 1) only if a reasonable person would agree after the fact that the deception was justified and 2) if that reasonable person wouldn’t be terribly upset about the difference between reality and the lie that was told. We think that the two historical wartime deceptions we laid out fits that test. But, say, covering up what the government knew about September 11, 2001 wouldn’t.

If Trump weren’t in the race, my vote would be with Vivek without any hesitation. I hope he runs again in 2028.

I get a bit suspicious of candidates that show up out of nowhere, say all the right things, and quickly gain massive support. Seems too good to be true. If this dude ends up running as an independent, he's definitely gonna pull some would-be Trump voters.

If people put aside their tribalism and idol worship on both sides, @VivekGRamaswamy will be the next president.

Honestly, we think many of these candidates are hoping to be the ‘Lincoln’ of 2024. Lincoln was not the Republicans’ first choice in 1860 (contrary to what many politicians at the time would claim later). The leading candidates were William Seward and Salmon Chase, but neither one of them could quite win the nomination. So, as they battled each other to a standstill at the convention, Lincoln was able to emerge as a compromise candidate between them and secured the nomination. It is one of the reasons why we say we were not smart to pick Lincoln as president: We were lucky, and we take it as positive evidence that God loves America and wants it to succeed. In any case, this year we suspect that many of the candidates who aren't named Trump or DeSantis are hoping DeSantis and Trump can have a similar stalemate, allowing for a similar dark horse victory by that person who isn't Trump or DeSantis.

The game is so transparent at this point. Partnership with Don Jr. Honestly, "conservative" media has more of a goose step marching order focus than even the left we like to make fun out of. Zero original thinking, ideas, focus, etc. https://t.co/B7JYHJL5qQ

Once again, @VivekGRamaswamy repeats the outrageous line (for like the 4th time) that he'd be ok if China invaded Taiwan if it came after we didn't need them anymore for semiconductors. https://t.co/4a6za9oT9h

We do tend to think that there is a greater important to Taiwan than just their semi-conductors. If you study how the Communist Chinese justify their government refusing to let people vote, the argument is essentially, ‘sure that works for westerners, but that doesn’t work for Chinese people.’ In other words, they pretend that the West is made up of either white people or at least non-Chinese people, and they pretend that Chinese people are not capable of managing a free republic. Now that is rebutted in part by the millions of Chinese Americans who contribute wonderfully to this country, and probably most healthy republics, but the most obvious rebuttal to that is Taiwan. So, we support at least saying to China ‘you are never getting Taiwan.’ Whether we would support doing more… we would prefer to leave China wondering about that question.

That being said, having a President who might be owned by Communist China makes us think that Taiwan needs to be able to fight back as much as they can, so they don’t have to depend on us. If they don’t have nuclear weapons, they should be given them. And that island should be flooded with so many guns, owned by ordinary citizens, that the Chinese Communists would weep at the thought of ever trying to take the place by force. A gun behind every blade of grass, as the saying goes.

Watched in pieces. @VivekGRamaswamy crushed it. Absolutely crushed it. https://t.co/pLaWLEH5VU

Vivek’s theme centers on a very caricatured, very superficial picture of the American Revolution. He speaks of the centrality of ‘God’ but yet he’s a Hindu. I don’t know if it’s pandering or maybe he really thinks this way but it’s weird https://t.co/vvhtNYGqta

Actually, the Declaration uses the more generic term ‘creator,’ probably with a desire to make it more universal. And we believe many if not most Hindus believe that all of the many ‘gods’ are actually aspects of a supreme deity that you might reasonably call ‘God’—though its not the same as the one the Christians worship. But we are not experts on the subject.

— 🗿 Woe to those who dwell upon the earth 🗿 (@treblewoe) August 17, 2023

2) the most common anti-Vivek claim I hear is to be wary of someone who says everything you want to hear… what, like Trump? Trump was great for the economy and global status… but so would Vivek’s plan. Trump… https://t.co/knk3uTs7ra

3) what Vivek needs to do is clearly explain why his WEF history isn’t a concern. This IS possible; I was brought up in the mainstream and now I battle it as well as most because I understand it. Is that his game too?

Well, to the WEF thing, his answer seems to be to have sued the WEF for falsely suggesting that they were connected, apparently getting some money from them in settlement, which he says he will donate to charity.

Vivek Ramaswamy settles lawsuit with World Economic Forum, will donate money | Fox News https://t.co/6fx92S1o0K

Still, we think whether you agree with everything Ramaswamy has said, whether you want him to be President or not, we feel this was a substantive discussion worth listening to, if only to counter the stupidity of M. Kaleo Manuel which this author posted on this morning. As one person wrote:

Gonna have to read a little extra today to make up for how much dumber I am after having watched this man speak. https://t.co/iSIjhiw1rN

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I watched the entire video last night. I have heard some of his inconsistencies and it’s slightly bothersome. We’re never going to have a candidate that we agree with 100% of the time, nor we will have a candidate that that does 100% of the things he says he’ll do.

Also recognize that we change our views on things as we receive more perfect information. For instance, I’m willing to bet that a significant percentage of Freepers thought Dick Cheney was great some 20+ years ago. I bet the vast majority of Freepers were just chomping at the bit for the Iraq war to begin. How many of you think those were good things today? We learn and we change.

Ramaswamy admits that he’s still learning. Christ, most of us look up stuff regularly when we post things on FR and I even attempt to learn several significant things each day.

It seems the people who don’t like him are getting stuck on little things like the “gay gene” thing or buy into the narrative that he’s some he’s a Soros stooge because he accepted a scholarship from George’s brother’s foundation. That doesn’t bother me the least bit since I accepted a rag tag bunch of scholarships to help pay for my college. I wrote essays that I thought would get me scholarships and catered to what I thought they wanted to hear from me. It had nothing to do with my beliefs. In fact, I was particularly proud of one scholarship because it came from a very liberal old woman in Philadelphia. I was proud because I got it and some liberal kid didn’t. And yes, I was to the right of Attila the Hun when I was a teen.

The thing that impressed me the most in the Tucker interview was Ramaswamy explaining his thoughts on Taiwan. He set up his own flip flop in the future. Some simpletons will call it exactly that, a flip flop. First, he’ll defend Taiwan and then he won’t. But he gave his reason and what he’s going to do about it. When have you ever heard any politician do that on such a significant issue. The thing is, I have the same basic policy model and it is not a new idea. I’ve had it since I was a kid, although I have upgraded the idea over time.

The policy model is very simple but tends to be very difficult to implement. The meta model has the following components: 1.) A nation or region that has something we need very badly. It was oil when I was a kid in the 70’s.
2.) The nation or region needed our economic assistance or military support due to some threat.
3.) We had the ability give them aid or military support, but it would cost us and we didn’t want to do that forever.
4.) We had the resource or product in some quantity but currently lacked the ability to produce it to meet our needs.
5.)We had the potential to produce a quantity of the resource or product to be self sufficient or better yet, become an exporter of product beyond our own needs.

The policy implementation is you provide aid or military support in the short term while developing the ability to be domestically self sufficient. Then you eliminate that aid or military support. It’s a pure business transaction with nations that we really have no other interests than the product or resource they can provide.

Back in the 70’s that was oil and it came from the Middle East. I personally don’t give a damn about what they have other than oil. I have no desire to go there, be their friends, or help them prosper when there a more than enough problems we needed to solve at home. And yes, we had problems that needed to be fixed at home in the 70’s, and we had budget deficits and a growing national debt. Back then I thought we could develop oil sands in Colorado to be self sufficient. It turns out the solution was fracking in Texas, the Dakotas, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia as well as opening access to oil fields in Alaska and offshore. Trump proved it could be done some 40+ years later simply by getting government out of the way. What he didn’t do is withdraw economic and military support for the region. Quite honestly, we should have started moving our military focus out of the ME to SE Asia back in 2018.

Ramaswamy essentially described the same thing in the Tucker interview except it was with Taiwan and becoming chip-independent instead of oil-independent. All the same elements of the model exist. I’ve never heard a politician so clearly express this in an honest manner. He put it in clear terms so that most people could understand. Most importantly, he expressly said that we would not fight for Taiwan after we become chip-independent.

Now all the neocon war mongers will have problems with that and will cry democracy this and democracy that. I don’t give a rats ass about Taiwan. I’ve worked their in the past. But I don’t want to go there again at the expense of maintaining a military to fight the PLA.

By the way, I think removing our dependence on Taiwan it actually lessens China’s desire to unify by force with Taiwan. Their prize asset is the chip business.

Becoming chip-independent doesn’t solve all our problems with China. We are dependent on mainland China for many other things, most importantly pharmaceuticals, rare earth metals, and steel, followed by all the crap people buy at box stores. To solve those problems we need to be energy dominant so that we have extremely cheap energy to fuel American industry. That lowers the price of what America manufactures which will make American businesses a net exporter and dominant in the world once again. Next we need to get government out of the way so we can use the other bounties that our land provides: mining for rare earths, iron and other metals needed to reinvigorate our dying steel production for instance.

When we are self sufficient it completely changes foreign policy. It allows us to make decisions and policies without be held hostage by our most basic needs. When neocons go on about peace through strength, they actually mean endless wars because they think war is strength for some queer reason. I don’t think Ronald Reagan had war in mind when he brought forth the notion of peace through strength. We are strong when we do not have to rely on others and when we can withdraw more and more of our military to DEFEND OUR BORDERS.

I am through with the idea of sending our sons off to endless wars where they die, become crippled or psychologically damaged. We don’t need to waste our treasure on places where we have no national interests. We can limit and eliminate the places where we have national interests by becoming self sufficient.

Now sit down for this. There is a significant dividend to all this that people will resist. We can substantially cut defense spending. I’m positive there’s enough waste and useless crap right now to cut military spending by 10% to 15%. So it’s not a stretch to have self sufficiency dividend of 50% to 60% AND be more secure than we are today.

To conclude, I don’t know if Ramaswamy is going to be a political force in the future, but some of his ideas and solutions ring true. You get that from candidates that don’t have a lifetime of government experience building absolutely nothing. Quite honestly, every presidential candidate pales in comparison to Ramaswamy and Trump. They are not the swamp. They both want to eliminate the administrative state. They both know how build things. Trump will get my vote and I hope some Ramaswamy’s ideas become mainstream as they are a clear extension of Trump’s first term.

I watched the video on X, formerly Twitter. I think it’s worthwhile to listen to his ideas.

He claims that we are almost totally dependent on Taiwan for semiconductors. If mainland China takes over Taiwan, they will have a gun to our head. He thinks we may have to branch out to Japan and Korea as we rebuild domestic US capability.

Intelligent international trade can be mutually enriching. However, sometimes trade must take a back seat to national security. We should not be totally dependent on others for vital resources or technology.

His other comments are interesting too.

It’s become commonplace to disparage the war in Iraq. I think even President Trump has done so. I think I caught a little of this from Tucker, but Vivek did not take the bait.

There are a few prominent omissions from the consensus understanding of the war in Iraq. Under President Clinton, Congress funded a program of regime change in Iraq. That was an act of war. How many people realize this?

We warred against Hussein under Presidents Bush, Clinton, and Bush. Congressional language was always similar. As I recall, it cited support for terrorism and genocide, failure to comply with treaties, and efforts to develop WMDs.

As to the attack on the World Trade Center, we should remember that it was the second attempt. The first occurred in 1993. With a few more sticks of dynamite the results would have been more devastating than in 2001. Even after all these years, I don’t think we know who was behind these events. I don’t think we can justifiably rule out Saddam Hussein for one or both events.

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