Pharmaceuticals entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy gave a sharp rebuke Wednesday in response to a Washington Post reporter’s gotcha question about “white supremacy.”
After asking Ramaswamy to “condemn white supremacy and white nationalism,” the reporter doubled down on her question when the presidential candidate refused: “But you didn’t say that you condemn white supremacy.” The GOP candidate then delivered a stern rebuke.
NEW: Vivek Ramaswamy absolutely obliterates woke reporter who tries asking him a 'gotcha' question about condemning white supremacy.
Amazing 🔥🔥🔥
“I'm not gonna recite some catechism for you. I'm against vicious racial discrimination in this country, so I'm not pledging… pic.twitter.com/QBEMaSm7At
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 3, 2024
“I’m not — I’m not going to recite some catechism for you,” Ramaswamy said. “I’m against vicious racial discrimination in this country. So I’m not pledging allegiance to your new religion of modern wokeism which absolutely fits the test.”
“I’m not going to bend the knee to your religion. I’m sorry, I’m not asking you to bend the knee to mine and I’m not going to bend the knee to yours,” he continued. “But do I condemn vicious racial discrimination? Yes, I do. Am I going to play your silly game of ‘Gotcha?’ No, I’m not. And frankly, this is why people have lost trust [in the media].
WAPO reporter doubles down: You didn’t say that you condemn white supremacy though.
She immediately regrets it.@VivekGRamaswamy isn’t going to play the game. pic.twitter.com/2NHshriVZa
— Chris Carapezza (@Chris_Carapezza) January 3, 2024
Then Ramaswamy said: “And I know you’re going to go print the headline tomorrow. I already know this, we already know how your game works: ‘Vivek Ramaswamy Refuses to Condemn Racism,’ because you asked a stupid question [ … ] The kind of vicious and systematic racism we see today is discrimination on the basis of race in a very different direction.”
“You want to know what the best way is to end discrimination on the basis of race?” Vivek asked. “Stop discriminating on the basis of race. Do that, and we’re going to move this country forward, and I don’t care whether you’re black or white or brown or anything in between. That’s how we’re going to unite this country.”
Ramaswamy’s answer was reminiscent of one Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman gave in 2005 when “60 Minutes” interviewer Mike Wallace asked, “How are we going to get rid of racism?” Freeman said, “Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man. And I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man [ … ] you know what I’m saying?”