Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur, self-styled conservative firebrand, and long-shot Republican presidential candidate, believes he and Tesla CEO Elon Musk see eye-to-eye on many vital points, similar to free speech.
And this weekend, forward of Iowa’s presidential caucuses on Monday night, Musk’s posts on X urged not solely his assist for Ramaswamy, however a perception that he’ll do much better within the state than polls recommend.
“My guess is that Vivek will far exceed the polls when the votes are counted,” Musk posted, in response to a shared Fox Information video on Ramaswamy’s low ballot numbers versus the assist that Iowa Rep. Steven Holt (R-Iowa) stated he was seeing.
Musk additionally wrote on Sunday “I think you’re right” in response to an X consumer who posted: “I truly believe this Monday @VivekGRamaswamy is going to shock the world. This is going to be a major win for the country.”
Musk additionally responded “Yes” when one other consumer requested “Do you trust Vivek Ramaswamy?”
However expectations for Ramaswamy are low. In a current Suffolk College ballot, 54% of 500 seemingly Republican caucus goers chosen former president Donald Trump as their most popular candidate, versus 20% for former South Carolina governor Haley, 13% for Floria governor DeSantis, and simply 6% for Ramaswamy.
Holt, nevertheless, stated “I don’t believe the polls,” including that a lot of his constituents have advised him that Ramaswamy is commonly not introduced as an possibility on the surveys. “Iowa has delivered surprises before. We’ll see what happens,” he advised Fox.
Ramaswamy has repeatedly defended Trump all through his presidential run, and has stated that he’ll pardon him if elected. His plan appears to relaxation on Trump turning into ineligible to run because of his varied authorized difficulties, at which level Ramaswamy hopes to inherit his base.
Ramaswamy posted a photo of himself to X on Saturday with six followers carrying a shirt from his marketing campaign studying “Save Trump, Vote Vivek.” These shirts appeared to have irked the Trump facet.
Trump’s senior marketing campaign adviser, Chris LaCivita, responded to the post by calling Ramaswamy the marketing campaign’s “number one fraud,” including that “Trump doesn’t need ‘saving.’”
And Trump, who had kept away from attacking Ramaswamy, let free in a Fact Social publish, writing that “Vivek is not MAGA.”
Ramaswamy responded to Trump’s publish by writing on X: “It’s an unfortunate move by his campaign advisors…I’m not going to criticize him in response to this late attack.”
In the meantime, Musk, who in August backed Ramaswamy turning into vice chairman, famous that the GOP candidate appeared to have held extra conferences with Iowans than his rivals.
“The power of an extreme work ethic,” he wrote, “is usually underestimated.”