Vivek Ramaswamy is sounding the alarm on what he sees as a critical misstep the Republican Party is making in its campaign strategy against Kamala Harris, the Democrat presidential nominee. Speaking with Ben Shapiro on The Ben Shapiro Show’s “Sunday Special,” Ramaswamy argued that targeting Harris as an individual, especially by attacking her personal political ideology, is not only misguided but ineffective. Instead, he believes the real battle isn’t against Harris or her political philosophy but the broader system that elevated her to the position she now holds.
Ramaswamy pointed out a key flaw in the Republican strategy: focusing too much on labeling Harris as a radical leftist or Marxist. Yes, Harris has a track record of supporting far-left policies, but Ramaswamy argues that calling her an ideologue actually gives her too much credit. In his view, she’s not some staunch defender of Marxism or socialism. She’s simply another cog in the larger Democratic machine—a pawn in the game, not the mastermind.
His point is clear: the Republicans shouldn’t be wasting time calling Harris names or digging into her personal political stances. After all, she’s pivoting her public image to present herself as some kind of faux-centrist, selectively embracing free-market ideas when it suits her. The bigger issue is the system that put her in power, and that’s where the focus of the Republican attacks should be.
Ramaswamy and Shapiro both pointed to how Democrats essentially “photoshopped” Harris into the presidential candidacy. After a weak debate performance, President Biden was quickly sidelined, paving the way for Harris to step into his shoes without having to earn a single primary vote. This wasn’t some grassroots, democratic process that placed her on the ballot—it was the Democratic machine, working behind the scenes to ensure that no one could challenge their hand-picked candidate.
But here’s the thing: the Republicans, according to Ramaswamy, have been too fixated on attacking Biden personally rather than addressing the machine that controls him and now Harris. As a result, Harris has managed to benefit from these attacks. She’s been cast as the savior, the one who “rescued” the Democratic Party from a failing, incoherent Biden administration. And instead of being scrutinized, she’s been legitimized in the eyes of many voters, particularly those who were desperate for an alternative to Biden.
“We’re not running against a candidate, we’re running against a system,” Ramaswamy told Shapiro.
“They literally just photoshopped the presidential candidate,” Shapiro noted. “I mean, they took the president, they made sure that no one challenged him the whole way through. He then was put in place as the nominee, and then as soon as he had a bad debate, they ousted him in favor of Kamala Harris.”
Ramaswamy warns that continuing down this path only strengthens Harris and the Democrat apparatus. Instead, the right should focus on exposing how the Democratic Party functions as a puppet master, pulling strings behind the scenes to maintain power. The problem, in his view, isn’t Harris’ personal politics—it’s the deeper issue of a system that has become more focused on maintaining its own power than on serving the American people.
Listen to Vivek @VivekGRamaswamy describe this.
There’s no need to obsess over Kamala Harris, the candidate. She’s a radical liberal that can’t produce results and does nothing but lie on the campaign trail.
Focus on policy and vision. pic.twitter.com/jgcwctEvGu
— .. (@OperDJT) August 10, 2024
He also brings up the “managerial class”—the unelected bureaucrats and elites who continue to influence policy, regardless of who’s in office. This is the real issue Ramaswamy says the Republicans need to tackle. The Democrats are running a machine, not just a candidate, and unless the Republicans shift their attacks to address that, they risk falling into a trap that Harris and her supporters will happily exploit.
“Kamala Harris benefited from that as opposed to really offering an indictment of the Democratic machine, and not even the Democratic machine, but the deeper managerial class in our country,” Ramaswamy said. “That would have been, I think, a more spot-on criticism.”
Kamala Harris’ low IQ represents the same thing as Joe Biden’s cognitive decline: it’s not a bug, but a *feature* for the people who control them. pic.twitter.com/d9nVqxTTzH
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) July 12, 2024
Ramaswamy’s message is clear: stop getting bogged down in personal attacks against Kamala Harris. She’s not the endgame. The real battle is against a deeply entrenched Democratic system that’s more focused on maintaining its own power than on delivering for the American people. Republicans need to recognize that and adjust their strategy accordingly, or they may find themselves fighting the wrong fight.
