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In northwestern Iowa on Monday, Vivek Ramaswamy addressed, unprompted, a query that has trailed him all through his presidential bid: Why ought to voters select him as a substitute of Donald J. Trump, the previous president whom he routinely and staunchly defends?
Rather than breaking with Mr. Trump, who leads Mr. Ramaswamy by 50 factors or extra in nationwide polls, voters who assist Mr. Ramaswamy’s proposals have usually acknowledged his alignment with Mr. Trump on quite a few points. Many counsel as a substitute that Mr. Ramaswamy would make a strong vice president or future president.
With beneath per week till the Iowa caucuses, and as he polls in a distant fourth place within the state, Mr. Ramaswamy has addressed these issues with out wavering in his assist for Mr. Trump.
“If you suppose they’re going to let this man get wherever close to the White House once more, I need you to open your eyes,” Mr. Ramaswamy advised round 20 voters in Le Mars, Iowa. (In current weeks, he has leaned into conspiracy theories on the marketing campaign path.)
On Monday he decried the felony prosecutions Mr. Trump faces as “unconstitutional and disgusting” however not directly prompt he can be extra electable as a result of the “system” would maintain Mr. Trump from reaching the White House.
“I’ve revered him extra on this race than each different candidate as a result of it’s the proper factor to do,” Mr. Ramaswamy stated. “He was a superb president for this nation. But our motion can not finish with him.”
Mr. Ramaswamy has usually praised the previous president and promised to pardon him, ought to he be convicted — incomes rare praise from Mr. Trump throughout his marketing campaign. But in current months, he has tried to place himself as youthful and fewer embattled than the previous president, whom he has described as “wounded,” on the path, and in a recent interview with NBC News and The Des Moines Register.
“You’ve acquired the way forward for ‘America First’ standing proper right here, contemporary legs to steer us to victory on this struggle,” he stated, suggesting that he would use his data of the regulation to go additional than Mr. Trump did in enacting standard conservative insurance policies.
Elaine Tillman, 68, got here into Mr. Ramaswamy’s occasion on the Pizza Ranch in Le Mars undecided, with plans to attend a Trump rally on Saturday. But after listening to Mr. Ramaswamy converse, she stated she deliberate to caucus for him as a substitute.
“I favored all the things he did, I simply know there’ll be no peace with the Democrats going in opposition to him for the subsequent 4 years,” Ms. Tillman stated of Mr. Trump.
But convincing everybody who got here out would show a troublesome activity. Shawn Nissen, a 38-year-old building employee from Jefferson, Iowa, stated he had braved the frigid climate to listen to from Mr. Ramaswamy in individual as a result of he noticed him as aligned with Mr. Trump — whom he plans to caucus for.
“I simply suppose he’s acquired to complete what he began again in 2016,” Mr. Nissen stated of Mr. Trump. “But I need to hear what Vivek says as a result of despite the fact that I’m voting for Trump this yr, we’ve nonetheless acquired one other election in 4 years.”
As a snowstorm bore down on Iowa, Mr. Ramaswamy was one of many few candidates out on the path on Monday afternoon, whereas others canceled deliberate occasions. He had 4 occasions scheduled on Monday in northwestern Iowa, the place he campaigned alongside Steve King, a former congressman for the area.
“If you may’t deal with the snow, you’re not prepared for Xi Jinping,” he advised round 30 folks in Sioux City.
