- Saturday, April 05, 2025
The Indian-American entrepreneur suspended his presidential campaign after a poor result in the Iowa caucuses on January 15. He later endorsed Trump.
By: Shubham Ghosh
HOURS after Indian-American presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy suspended his campaign following a disappointing result in the Iowa caucuses on Monday (15), former US president Donald Trump thanked him for endorsing him and said he will be working with his team for a long time, triggering speculation that the entrepreneur could be in the race to become the vice president given Trump wins this year’s elections.
“It’s an honour to have his endorsement. He’s gonna be working with us and he’ll be working with us for a long time. Thank you,” Trump, 77, said at a rally in Atkinson in New Hampshire where the next Republican primary will be held on January 23.
The mercurial businessman-politician who lost the 2020 election against current president Joe Biden, dominated the Iowa caucuses by securing more than 50 per cent of the votes and 20 of 40 delegates. Ron DeSantis, the governor of the state of Florida, finished a distant second with a little over 21 per cent of votes. Former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley finished third with 19 per cent of the votes while Ramaswamy received less than eight per cent of the votes.
Read: Nikki Haley says she’s final hope of stopping ‘Trump-Biden nightmare’
In his victory speech in Iowa, Trump lauded Ramaswamy for his campaign and said he did a “hell of a job”.
“I also want to congratulate Vivek, because he did a hell of a job,” the Republican frontrunner said.
Read: Vivek Ramaswamy ends presidential campaign, endorses Trump after Iowa loss
BREAKING: Trump crowd chants "VP VP VP" after Vivek gets done speaking. Trump says "he's going to be working with us for a long time" pic.twitter.com/NV8P6hKrET
— George (@BehizyTweets) January 17, 2024
The shift in Trump’s tone towards the Indian-American was significant since it was only a few days ago that the former had called him a “fraud” despite the fact that Ramaswamy has supported him throughout.
Soon after dropping out of the race, Ramaswamy endorsed Trump for the presidency and urged GOP voters to put an “America First patriot” in the White House. In the past, he has defended the former president, who was impeached twice and faces four indictments, as the “greatest president” of the 21st century and also vowed to pardon him from all charges had he himself occupied the top office.
Ramaswamy was seen appearing with Trump on stage at the rally in Atkinson. There, Trump said he was surprised to see the former quitting the race. As Ramaswamy left the stage, the crowd was seen shouting “VP, VP”.
“There is not a better choice left in this race than this man right here. And that is why I am asking you to do the right thing at New Hampshire and to vote for Donald Trump as your next president,” Ramaswamy said at the rally where he endorsed trump again.
