Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur, published author, and possible presidential candidate for 2024, told Newsmax on Thursday that his candidacy would be about "reviving a national identity."
The Ohio resident also expressed his frustrated with the Biden administration's handling of a crisis caused by a 50-car train derailment in his home state.
The accident ended with a large, fiery explosion and potentially brought short- and long-term damage to fish and animals in the region, along with drinking water for area residents.
According to reports, it took several days for White House officials — including President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — to acknowledge the plume of smoke billowing over East Palestine, Ohio.
"I'm quite concerned" about the fallout of the East Palestine explosion, "and for very good reason," Ramaswamy told Newsmax on Thursday evening, while appearing on "Spicer & Co." with hosts Sean Spicer and Lyndsay Keith.
Earlier Thursday, Ramaswamy said he saw clips of Buttigieg "spouting off" about the Ohio incident getting more coverage than train derailments in other states.
And Ramaswamy found that "appalling."
"First of all, it's a chemical spill. I'd like to see [Buttigieg] ride on his bike and drink that water before he's spouting off," said Ramaswamy, the author of "Woke Inc: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam."
The way Ramaswamy sees it, that part of southeast Ohio is largely full of Republican-leaning voters — working-class citizens who the "Washington, D.C., elites don't think are worth respecting."
"It's a different demographic than the coastal elites," said the potential 2024 candidate.
Ramaswamy, 37, told Newsmax that former President Donald Trump's run for the White House in 2015 and 2016 inspired him to carve out his own career in politics.
Ramaswamy already has been spotted at informal events in Iowa and New Hampshire — the first two voting states in the Republican National Committee's nomination process for 2024.
"I don't believe in being coy. I'm quite serious about this. I expect to make a decision in the near-term," said Ramaswamy. "But this isn't about me or any one person. This is about reviving a national identity. In the conservative movement, we need to go past the 'who' ... and ask the question of the 'what' and the 'why.'
"You ask people my age, 'What does it mean to be an American today?' and you'll get a blank stare in response," continued Ramaswamy, before adding, "I have a vision for how to answer that question."
Should he run for president next year, Ramaswamy wouldn't have an interest in a campaign that's long on attacking opponents, but short on selling ideas to the American people.
Instead, Ramaswamy would execute a strategy that touts free speech and open debates, denounces censorship, and advances the notion of a meritocracy-based system in America, instead of judging people by their race or status.
Hypothetically, "I'm not running against anybody else ... I would be running for those ideals," added Ramaswamy.
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