Western Reader
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has been captivating audiences on the campaign trail with his compelling rags-to-riches story.
He often shares how his parents immigrated to the U.S. with nothing, and how he built multi-billion dollar companies from the ground up. However, a closer look at public records and Ramaswamy’s past writings reveals a more complex narrative.
During the Fox News-hosted debate in Milwaukee, Ramaswamy positioned himself as an entrepreneur rather than a politician. He emphasized his humble beginnings and his support for school choice, stating that he “didn’t grow up [with] money.”
Should we trust Vivek?
Lots of coincidences here… pic.twitter.com/xVJqM3KisD
— Matt Kim (@MattAttack009_) August 25, 2023
This narrative is a crucial part of his strategy to connect with voters and distinguish himself from former President Trump. He proudly claims that unlike Trump, he “actually built the companies from scratch.”
However, it was revealed that Ramaswamy was already a millionaire when he accepted a scholarship award in 2011. At that time, he was a first-year law student at Yale and had been working as an investment analyst at the hedge fund QVT Financial.
His tax returns for that year reported a total income of over $2 million. His campaign spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, defended this by stating that the scholarship was generic and awarded to hundreds of students attending graduate school.
Ramaswamy’s upbringing also differs from the image he portrays on the campaign trail. His mother, a geriatric psychiatrist, obtained her Ohio medical license less than two years after arriving in the U.S.
She worked at a private practice in Cincinnati from the time Vivek was four until he went to college. His father, a patent attorney at General Electric, provided a second income for the family. Ramaswamy himself attended an elite private high school in Cincinnati, where tuition today costs over $16,000 per year.
🇷🇺 Vivek Ramaswamy claims Putin is a “bully” who needs to be “punched in the nose.”
He is a deep state hack who wants to attack Putin and go to war with China, rather than building a more peaceful world. pic.twitter.com/NATu3K5bfq
— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) August 25, 2023
Contrary to his claims of not inheriting anything, public records show that Ramaswamy’s parents established a stock portfolio for him that generated hundreds of dollars in dividends before he graduated high school, and thousands by the time he attended Harvard.
Both of Ramaswamy’s parents were highly educated professionals in India before they moved to the U.S. His father held a graduate degree in engineering, and his mother held a medical degree in geriatric psychiatry.
As Ramaswamy’s popularity grows, his past is being scrutinized more closely. He recently defended accepting a $90,000 award from the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, which he had previously said he needed to pay for law school.
He claimed he “didn’t have the money” to afford Yale Law School after graduating from Harvard. However, it should be noted that Ramaswamy was already a millionaire when he accepted this award.
While Ramaswamy’s entrepreneurial success is undeniable, his portrayal of his upbringing and financial situation appears to be more nuanced than his campaign narrative suggests.
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