Vivek Ramaswamy suspends campaign after coming fourth in Iowa

Vivek Ramaswamy is ending his presidential campaign after finishing fourth in the Iowa Caucuses.

The 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur and anti-woke author endorsed Donald Trump after the former president’s overwhelming victory in the first contest in the Republican presidential primary.

“We did not achieve the surprise that we wanted to deliver tonight … as of this moment we are going to suspend this presidential campaign,” he told his supporters in the Hawkeye State on Monday night.

“There’s no path for me to be the next president absent things that we don’t want to see happen in this country,” he added.

“As I’ve said since the beginning, there are two America first candidates in this race and I called Donald Trump to tell him that,” he added. “I congratulated him on his victory and now going forward he will have my full endorsement for the presidency, and I think we’re gonna do the right thing for this country.”

Mr Ramaswamy came into the GOP primary having done a few appearances on Fox News bashing wokeness. He made a name for himself as someone willing to say anything and everything to get attention.

He aggressively pushed a litany of baseless rightwing conspiracy theories, such as the climate crisis being a hoax, the white supremacist great replacement theory of political elites bringing in immigrants to replace the white population being Democratic policy, and claiming that the January 6 insurrection was an “inside job”.

He garnered a lot of attention for his clashes with former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, whom he bashed for allegedly being corrupt and only campaigning for the benefit of her donors.

On the stage at CPAC in March of last year, Mr Ramaswamy railed against wokeness, called the administrative state “unconstitutional” and argued for the shutting down of the Department of Education. For good measure, he said that “the FBI has gotten so cancerous that we need to shut it down”.

He was extreme, energetic and attention-grabbing. But at that point, only the most dedicated of conservatives had seen him in action. It now appears that the sustained attention he has received may not have done him any favours.

Making his pitch to voters earlier on Monday night, Mr Ramaswamy said that he wanted to “use the military” at the northern border.

Before the caucuses began, Mr Ramaswamy urged his supporters to “stick it to the media & shock the world”.

“We’re surging on the ground. Don’t fall for the desperate late smears. Our best days are ahead,” he added on X ahead of the start of voting.

Former GOP speaker of the House and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich wrote on X: “Vivek Ramaswamy made a very mature and statesmanlike announcement tonight in endorsing President Trump. Ramaswamy is a brilliant entrepreneur with a great future.”

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