Republican presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy shredded a reporter for the Washington Post during a stop in Iowa after she pressed him on whether he condemned “white supremacy and white nationalism.”
The reporter brought up former Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who lost his reelection bid in 2020 after being alienated by many in his own party for remarks he made in the past, sometimes about race, after he endorsed Ramaswamy earlier in the day.
King has also been blasted for touting the “great replacement” argument, which involves the literal ‘replacement’ of white majorities with non-whites in their own countries. The left and much of the mainstream media have labeled it a “conspiracy,” even as President Biden is allowing millions of migrants from non-white countries all over the world to pour across the southwest border.
Here’s a partial transcript of the back-and-forth between Ramaswamy and the WaPo reporter:
WASHINGTON POST REPORTER: In 2019, Steve King said white nationalist, white supremacist–
VIVEK RAMASWAMY: According to who?
WASHINGTON POST REPORTER: This was the New York Times.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY: Yeah, according to the New York Times, which he has challenged the existence of whether he actually ever said that to the New York Times. They have not produced one recording of it. And if anybody has provided one other eyewitness account that verifies whatever it is. I’m just not one of these people who treat the New York Times as the Bible, I’m sorry, it is not. They’ve lied to us for years about everything from the pandemic which shut down this country for the last several years, to each of the last two presidential elections — from tech-suppressed information in the last one to what happened with the federal police state who tried to infiltrate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 and stopped him from governing. You could go all the way back to the Iraq War, to the truth of what happened with the basis for the bailouts. You can go back as far as you want on the front pages of the New York Times to tell you enough to be skeptical of what you read.
I’ve gotten to know a man, and if it is what Steve King tells me vs. the front page of the New York Times about what he actually said. I’ll take Steve King’s word over what some fake reporter said, without an iota of proof attached to it.
WASHINGTON POST REPORTER: Do you condemn white supremacy and white nationalism?
VIVEK RAMASWAMY: I mean, what? Who are you with?
WASHINGTON POST REPORTER: The Washington Post.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY: Washington Post, so potato/potato.
Vivek Ramaswamy destroys a Washington Post reporter for attempting to manufacture a 'controversy' with him regarding condemnation of 'white supremacy' after former Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) endorsed him.
It's masterful. pic.twitter.com/9Y0hy739s8
— USA Features Media (@UsaFeatures) January 3, 2024
The 2024 GOP contender wasn’t done, going on to make it clear he opposes discrimination of any kind committed by anyone in the country.
“Of course, I condemn any form of vicious racial discrimination in this country, but I think the presumption of your question is fundamentally based on a falsehood that this is really the main form of racial discrimination we see in this country today,” he said. “Institutionalized racism is institutionalized racial discrimination that we see that doesn’t come from somehow discriminating against people on some tenet of white supremacy. It is based on affirmative action, discriminating against people based on the color of their skin in a way that is actually institutionalized today.”
“You didn’t say that you condemn white supremacy, though,” the reporter falsely claimed in response.
“I’m not going to recite some catechism for you. I’m against vicious racial discrimination in this country. I’m not pledging allegiance to your new religion of modern wokeism, which actually fits the test. I’m not going to bend the knee to your religion. I’m not going to ask you to bend to mine, and I’m not going to bend the knee to yours,” the candidate responded.
“But do I condemn vicious racial discrimination? Yes, I do,” he said. “Am I going to play your silly game of gotcha? No, I am not.”
After noting that mainstream outlets like the Times and the Post are dividing the country with their false narratives and manufactured controversies, Ramaswamy went all-in to condemn the reporter.
“Shame on you. Look people in the eye and tell them what you have actually failed to tell them for the past five years, own the accountability for your own failures as the media. That is how we rebuild trust in this country. And until then, I don’t have a lot of patience to play the games,” he said.
