Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Tuesday declared that he would not serve in a Trump cabinet or that of any of his other Republican rivals, opining that he’d serve the country better in the private sector than as a conventional politician.
Appearing on the “Steve Hilton Show,” Ramaswamy smacked down speculation that he was running to earn a cabinet slot and expressed optimism that he could ultimately win the contest.
“I would not,” he said with respect to accepting a cabinet post. “I think the right way to drive change for me in this country, if I’m not in this race, is through the private sector as I’ve been doing.”
“We all have to look ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves, how can we make our unique contributions? I think there’s a lot of talented politicians, and if there’s a need for another politician to fill some rank, there’s a great deep bench to choose from,” he said. “I think in our movement, there’s a lot thinner of a bench when it comes to people who actually know how to build great enterprises, achieve great success.”
“I’ve been writing one book every six months on average before this campaign in parallel with building those businesses,” he added. “That’s how I’ll be having an impact in the event that I’m not successful in this race.”
“I believe, Steve, we will be successful in this race,” he declared. “And the reason I was laughing earlier is literally every presidential cycle, somebody in like, May or June is pontificating, thinking about they know where that puck is going. Everything before the debates start this fall is literally irrelevant.”
“[V]ery few people in this country, as I was saying, know even who I am yet,” he acknowledged. “And that’s okay. That’s a good thing because I’m still polling, frankly, better than we expected to be.”
Considered something of a longshot candidate at the time of his campaign announcement, Ramaswamy has attracted a meaningful following in the Republican primary and currently stands in fourth place with 4.5% support in the RealClearPolitics polling average. That standing puts him ahead of veteran politicians such as South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, and former Govs. Chris Christie, N.J., and Asa Hutchinson, Ark.