Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the 2024 Republican presidential race and endorsed Donald Trump Monday night, moments after the former president delivered a victory speech following his emphatic first-place finish in the Iowa caucuses.
“We didn’t achieve the shock we wanted to deliver tonight,” Ramaswamy, 38, told supporters in Des Moines. “There’s no way I’m going to be the next president, there’s nothing we don’t want to see happen in this country.”
“And I think I’m very worried for our country. I think we are skating on thin ice as a country,” he added.
“This has to be an America First candidate in the White House. As I said from the beginning there are two America First candidates,” Ramaswamy said before revealing he had contacted Trump to “congratulate him on his victory.”
“So, I’m going to ask you to follow me in taking our America First movement to the next level,” he told the crowd.
Trump, 77, was projected to win the race by the Associated Press just 30 minutes after caucus members entered the polls to cast their ballots for the 2024 GOP presidential nominee. The former president followed DeSantis, 45, in a distant second and Haley, 51, in third.
Former President Donald Trump surged into first place in the Iowa Caucus on Monday night in an expected victory with Ron DeSantis a distant second. AP
“The people of Iowa sent a clear message tonight: Donald Trump will be the next Republican nominee for President. Now is the time to make him the next President of the United States,” said a spokesperson for Make America Great Again Inc. Alex Pfeiffer in a statement.
“Joe Biden’s team just announced a massive war chest. Every dollar spent by President Trump’s major losers is a dollar that could go against Joe Biden. Once the DC RINOs are done crying into their cocktails over tonight’s decision, it’s time for Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy to face reality and stop wasting time and resources.”
But aside from Ramaswamy, no other candidate plans to drop out as early as Tuesday, hoping that votes in other key states or at least one of Trump’s criminal allegations could complicate his path to the Republican presidential nomination.
The results of the first national primary will set the tone for several contests to come, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s push to win the New Hampshire primary. Getty Images
The candidates will run in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina in the coming weeks before heading to Michigan, Missouri and North Dakota in late February and early March.
DeSantis assured his supporters in West Des Moines that he was “in it for the long haul” — despite largely ignoring a campaign event in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.
The Florida governor is scheduled to appear Tuesday morning in South Carolina, where he will try to unseat both Haley and Trump and pull off an unexpected victory.
Haley has outperformed DeSantis among Granite State voters and is even within single digits of the 45th president in some polls.
He is expected to pick up more voters with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s exit from the race last week and is looking for a surprise victory over the former president in New Hampshire.
“I’m not playing for second,” the former South Carolina governor often replied when asked if he would make a bid for Trump’s vice presidential pick.
Ramaswamy has expressed no intention of suspending his campaign before his announcement, saying in a recent social media post that the Iowa contest is “TRUSTED” and Haley’s surge in recent months was orchestrated by “puppet master.”
Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the race after finishing fourth, and threw his support behind Trump. Getty Images
Trump himself stepped up his attacks on Ramaswamy in the final days before the caucuses, dismissing the 38-year-old candidate for “PLAYING HIM TOO ‘CUTE'” with his campaign in the early days of the Republican primary.
Trump still faces two federal cases over his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and is accused of storing national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
He was also indicted in Manhattan for allegedly committing business fraud by concealing “hush money” payments to two women before the 2016 election and again for trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.
The former president has also been thrown out of primary voting in Colorado and Maine, with the US Supreme Court set to hear an appeal of the Centennial State’s decision on February 8.
The candidates will run in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina before heading to Michigan, Missouri and North Dakota. ZUMAPRESS.com
Ramaswamy said the allegations and efforts to get Trump off the ballot are a “systemic” attempt to one-up Haley and reduce the campaign to a “2-horse race.”
“I respect Trump. He is the best President of the 21st century. I have defended him at every step against unjust persecution,” he said aired on Saturday at X.
“But OPEN YOUR EYES to the harsh TRUTH: this system will stop at nothing to keep this man out of the White House. Just because it’s wrong doesn’t mean it won’t happen & we owe it to our country to move America-First forward.”
Ahead of Super Tuesday, the primary medley of the GOP nominating contest on March 5, the party’s nominee may finally emerge — around the same time Trump is scheduled to appear for his first federal hearing.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
