Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy disagrees with Donald Trump’s claim to the slogan “America First,” saying it doesn’t belong to anyone, including the former president.
“’America First’ does not belong to Trump. It doesn’t belong to me,” Mr. Ramaswamy said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “It belongs to the people of this country. And I think we take that agenda even further, if we’re doing it based on ‘First’ principles and moral authority, as Reagan did, rather than on vengeance and grievance,” he said, invoking the 40th president.
The 2024 White House hopeful’s campaign is a long shot, but he’s one of several candidates looking to distinguish themselves from Mr. Trump, who remains the clear front-runner among Republican voters.
Mr. Ramaswamy, a biopharmaceutical entrepreneur, is the first millennial to run for president and brands himself as a conservative champion against “woke” issues, including the hot-button financial practice known as ESG investing that takes climate change and social justice politics into consideration.
“Too long, many other conservatives have been running from something. I’m running to something, what it actually means to be an American,” he said. “I’m an ‘America First’ conservative, but I believe that to put America first, we need to rediscover what America is. And I’m seeing the base across this country, hungry for that message, and that’s how we’re going to win.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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