Brian Swensen, Vivek Ramaswamy’s national political director, is jumping ship. That is a telling sign as to where Vivek’s campaign is going.
Nowhere. Vivek’s campaign is going nowhere. It seems like a natural fit for a top person in his camp to get out while the getting is good and head to Team Trump. Vivek is a proxy for Trump in the Republican presidential primary anyway, right? Vivek knows he won’t be the nominee. His staff knows it, too. The Republican primary is going to whittle down to Trump, DeSantis, and Haley in no time.
Is it Vivek? https://t.co/51wq9ECL0V
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) November 29, 2023
All that is being said right now is that Swensen is taking a job where he will work closely with Trump campaign senior adviser Susie Wiles at the top of the Trump campaign.
A campaign losing its political director is a gut punch.
The move is a blow to Ramaswamy, who soared to prominence over the summer but has struggled to maintain his momentum in the Republican primary. Ramaswamy is polling at around 5% in support in the average of national Republican polling compiled by 538. Trump’s lead in the race has climbed to about 60% nationwide, according to 538.
Swensen is a close ally of Wiles’ dating back to their work together on Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s 2010 run for governor.
Vivek has taken to criticizing Governor Kim Reynolds in Iowa, like Trump. He calls her out as a member of the GOP Establishment. For a guy who thinks he is so smart, he has some pretty dumb takes. Criticize Governor Reynolds at your own risk, young man. She’s crazy popular in Iowa. He’s taking her to task for her support of the CO2 pipeline that he claims negatively impacts farmers in Iowa.
In an announcement obtained by Fox News Digital, Ramaswamy teased a policy speech he’s set to give Friday in Des Moines regarding CO2 pipelines being implemented he says as part of the “climate change agenda,” knocking Republicans who are onboard with it.
“The GOP establishment does NOT approve of this message & it’s pathetic I’m the only candidate with the stones to say it,” Ramaswamy’s statement began. “The climate change agenda is a hoax & it’s hurting farmers in Iowa. Here’s how: the U.S. government enacted crony subsidies to reward those who build CO2 pipelines across the Midwest to bury CO2 in the ground in North Dakota (which is senseless for many reasons, including the fact that crops require CO2).”
He went on to say that farmers don’t want CO2 pipelines. He said Governor Reynolds “looks horrible” for supporting the CO2 pipeline issue. Mostly he wants to publicize a speech he will make on Friday in Des Moines with the Free Soil Coalition. Free Soil Coalition is a group organized in August 2023 and it stands up for property rights.
According to polls in Iowa, Vivek is in 4th place, behind Trump, DeSantis, and Haley. In the most recent Fox poll in Iowa, Trump holds a 62% lead. The other candidates trail Trump – DeSantis is at 14%, Haley got 11%, and Vivek is at 7%.
Nikki Haley received the endorsement of Americans for Prosperity Action (Koch) and that was a big deal Tuesday. We’ll see if the influx of their money and massive grass roots network move the needle for Haley against DeSantis.
Read the full article here