YouSaid · the spoken record

Vivek Ramaswamy

lines on the record: 214
first: 2024-09-25
most recent: 2024-09-25
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“I love your curiosity, man. Thanks for reading the book and appreciated your feedback on it as well. And hopefully we'll do this again sometime.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Letters, right? So I've written four books in four years. That is nothing compared to how prolific this guy was. Anyway. Good stuff, man. Thanks for having me. Neither of”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Swivel chain Thank you, man. One final fact to Thomas Jefferson whether you cut this. Of course. He wrote 16,000 essays in his life.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No. But regardless, if it's been fun to get back into tennis, I was an executive producer in a movie, something I've never done before. It's called City of Dreams. It's about a story of a young man who was trafficked into the United States. It's a thriller. It's a very cool movie to be a part of. I have actually started a couple companies. One company in particular that I think is going to be significant this year guiding some of the other businesses that I've gotten off the ground in the past. So for me, I'm re-energized now where I was in the thick of politics for a full year there and getting a little bit of oxygen outside of politics, doing some things in the private sector has actually given me a renewed sense of energy to get back into driving change through public service.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My hips are telling us I've been playing so many days a week that I set a goal for myself by the end of play in a particular tournament, but we'll see if that happens or not.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But it got better again. It's gotten better recently. I've been playing with the, I've been practicing with the Ohio State team in the morning. They're like, Number one in the country or close to it. Now, the guys on the team play, but there's a couple coaches who were recently on the team, one of whom used to be a guy used to play within the juniors who invited me out. So I hit with them in the mornings alongside the team. My goal, I'm...”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've been doing a wide range of things, right? I've been picking up my tennis game again. I've practiced at the Ohio State.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We've been told that stay in your lane. You don't have an expert degree in that. Therefore, you can't have an opinion about it. I don't know. I think that's a little bit unerican in terms of the culture of it. And yeah, it's one of the things I like about you and why I was looking forward to this conversation too is it's cool to have intellectual interests that span sports, to culture, to politics, to philosophy. And it's not like you just have to be an expert trained in one of those things to be able to engage in it. But actually, maybe just maybe you might even be better at each of those things because you're curious about the other. The Renaissance man, if you will, I think we've lost a little bit of that concept in America, but it's certainly something that is important to me. And this year it's been kind of cool after leaving the campaign. I've been doing...”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A curious person. I know this podcast is basically born of your curiosity, I'm sure. And so I just think we need more of that in America, that kind of when I talked about our founding fathers, we were joking about it, but they were inventors, they were writers, they were political theorists, they were founders of a nation. They kind of had that boundless curiosity too. And I think part of what's happened culturally in the countries, we've gotten to this place where...”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think most people are good people inherently. We all maybe get misguided from time to time, but what's actually, what is it that's moving that person to go in such a different direction than you? I think as long as you're curious about that, the climate change protesters that have interrupted my events, I'm as fascinated by the psychology of what's moving them and what they might be hungry for as I am concerned about rebutting the content of what they're saying to me. And I think that that's certainly... Something I care to revive. We don't talk about it in politics that much, but reviving that sense of curiosity, I think, is in a certain way one of the ways we're going to be able to disagree but still remain friends and fellow citizens at the end of it.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I love the heat and I'm a curious person. So I'm kind of always curious about what's actually getting the other, what's motivating the person on the other side. Curiosity, I think, is actually the best antidote, right? Because if you're just trying to stay calm in the face of somebody attacking you, that's kind of fake. But if you're kind of curious about them, right?”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not genteel behavior. It's not the respectful behavior. Whereas for us, part of what makes this country great is you could disagree like hell and still get together at the dinner table at the end of it. We've lost some of that, but I'm on a bit of a mission to bring that back. And so I don't know whether it's in politics or not, I'm committed in that next step, whatever the path is over the next four years. One of the things I'm committed to doing is making sure that I go out of my way to talk to people who actually disagree with me. And I think it's a big part of how we're going to save our country.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sometimes you do change your mind. And I think that that's happened over the course of my life as well. I think no one's a thinking human being unless that happens once in a while, too. And so anyway, just the idea of the pursuit of truth through open debate and inquiry, that's always just been part of my identity, part of who I am. I'm wired that way. I thrive on it. I enjoy it. Even my relationships with my closest friends are built around hated debates and deep-seated agreement, disagreements. And I just think that's beautiful. Not just about human relationships, but it's particularly beautiful about America, right? Because it's part of the culture of this country more so than other countries, you know, China, India, Asian cultures, even a lot of European cultures are very different where that's considered.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I enjoyed debate. And for me, I think just in ordinary life, forget about like a formal debate setting, whenever I've received criticism or a contrary view, my first impulse is always, are they right? It's always a possibility, right? And most of the time, what happens is you understand the other side's argument, but you emerge with a stronger conviction in your own belief, right? You know your own beliefs better if you can state the best argument for the other side.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It becomes a lot harder for someone else to do that to you if you've really centered yourself on your own purpose. It's probably one of my biggest learnings.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And so for each of my books, the things that I started writing ended up never in the book anyway, just because the topic ended up morphing. But the journey that led me to write this book, a lot of it in this book is still in there. This is my fourth book in four years, you're right. And I hope it's the most important one, but it is certainly the product of an honest reflection that whatever it might do for the reader, it helped me to write it. And I think that's one of the things that I learned from this campaign was not just all the policy lessons, but even just as a matter of personal practice, the ability to take spaces of time to not only physically challenge yourself, work out, et cetera, but to give yourself the space to reflect, to recenter yourself on the why. Had I done that, I think I would have been even more centered on the mission the whole time rather than, you know, you get attacked on the way you're thrown off your tilt or thrown off your balance.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It just didn't end up in the book because it just went in a different direction than what's interesting for a publisher to publish.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Now, make sure the country sees who you actually are in full, rather than just the momentum competitive driven version of you. And I just think that that sort of, I was taking those moments to just take stock of where you are, do some writing. I didn't do much writing during the presidential campaign. I enjoy writing. It's part of how I center myself. It's part of what this book allowed me to do is, okay, I ran that whirlwind of a campaign. The first thing I started doing after I collected myself for a couple of weeks was take the pen and start writing. And I was committed to writing that book, whether or not anybody read it. I was writing it for myself. And actually, it started in a very different form. It was very personal reflection oriented. So most of that, funny enough, I've learned about writing the books, Lexus.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Going through a presidential campaign, you're going at super speed. And if I was to do the presidential campaign again, the thing I would do is actually to take more structured breaks. I don't mean breaks isn't just like vacations, but I mean breaks to reflect on what's actually happening. Probably the biggest mistake I made is last time around heading into the first debate. I was like nine different states over seven days. I would have just taken that as a pause. We're at halfway through. You've established relevance.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sometimes it's chaotic, sometimes it's structured. It's a little bit of both. Sometimes I have a thought that I know I don't want to forget later. I'll immediately jot it down. Other times, you know, on the flight over here, I had a much more structured layout of, you know, I got a lot of different projects in the air, for example. And I cross-pollinate, I was in the shower this morning, had a bunch of thoughts, collected those on my plane ride over here. So I think that riding is something in all of its forms that helps me. It's one of the things that actually helped me this year was actually writing this book.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I need quiet time, extended periods of it that are separated from the rush of the day-to-day or the travel, actually think a lot better when I'm working out and physically active. So if I'm running, playing tennis, lifting, somehow for me, that really opens up my mind. And then I need a significant amount of time after that with a notebook as they carry around a notebook everywhere I go and write it down in there.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And so long as it exists, you got to play the game. I mean, if you're going to play to win. I think it's one of the things I realized is that you just can't compete without it. But you want to win the game in order to change the game. And I think that that's something that I keep in mind as well.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Challenges a lot of the current direction of the conservative movement. I believe in certain issues that, you know, maybe even outside the scope of what Republicans currently care about right now. Of the things that I oppose, for example, is this is not a top issue in American politics, but just to give you a sense for how I think and view the world. I'm against factory farming of a large scale of, you know, you could sort of say putting the mistreatment of, it's one thing to say that you need it for your sustenance, and that's great. But it's another to say that you have to do it in a factory farming setting that gives special exemptions from historical laws that have existed that are the product of crony capitalism. I'm against crony capitalism. But it's asking what the future of our movement is.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I have and continue to have beliefs that will challenge Republicans, that on the face of it may not be the policies that poll on paper as the policies you're supposed to adopt as Republican candidate. But what a true leader does doesn't just tell people what they want to hear. You tell people what they need to hear. And you tell people what your actual convictions are. And this idea that I don't want to create a right-wing entitlement state or a nanny state. I want to shut it down. That challenges the presuppositions of where a lot of the conservative movement is right now. I don't think the bill to cap credit card interest rates is a good idea because that's a price control just like Kamala Harris's price controls. And it'll reduce access to credit. I don't think that we want a crony capitalist state showering private benefits on selected industries that favor us or that we want to expand the CFPB or the FTC's remit and somehow we're going to trust it because it's under our watch. No, I believe in shutting it down.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would say lambasted. He phrased it very delicately but criticized Kamala Harris' proposed tax on unrealized capital gains. So I like people who are willing to challenge the orthodoxies in their own party because it says they actually have convictions. And so whoever the Democrats put up, I hope it's someone like that. And for my part,”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The longer they're there, the more they in some ways get polluted by it. I think the governor of Colorado, he's an interesting guy. He's got a more libertarian tendency. You know, I don't know as much about his views on it from a national perspective, but it's intriguing to see somebody who has at least libertarian freedom-oriented tendencies within the Democratic Party. I think that there are a number of, you know, I mean, I don't foresee him running for president, but I had a debate last year when I was running for president with Rokana, who say what you about him. He's a highly intelligent person and is somebody who is at least willing to buck the consensus of his party when necessary. I think he recently...”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would like to take on. In earnest and civil but contested context, right, of a debate, who do we want to take on? You want to take on somebody who disagrees with you but still has deep ideology of their own? I think John Fetterman's pretty interesting, right? He's demonstrated himself to be somebody who is thoughtful, able to change his mind on positions, but not in some sort of fake, flip-floppity, flippity, floppity way, but in a thoughtful evolution somebody who's been through personal struggles, somebody I deeply disagree with on a lot of his views and most of his views, but who I can at least say comes across at least as somebody who has been through that torturous process of really examining your beliefs and convictions and has, when necessary, been able to preach to his own tribe where he thinks they're wrong. I think it's interesting. I think that you have in a number of other leaders probably emerging at lower levels on the left. Not everybody's going to necessarily come from Washington, D.C. In fact,”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would love nothing more than a kick-ass set of top-tier Democrat candidates after four years of Donald Trump, we have a primary filled with actually people who have real visions for the country on both sides, and the people of this country can choose between those competing visions without insult or injury being the way we, I would love nothing more than to see that in 2028”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“As distinct from other politicians on both sides, is to take America to the next level to move beyond our victimhood culture, to restore our culture of excellence. We got to shut down that nanny state. The entitlement state, the regulatory state, the foreign policy nanny state shut it down and revive who we really are as Americans. And I'm as passionate about that as ever. But the next step is not running for president. The next step is what happens in the next four years. And that's why over the next four weeks, I'm focused on doing whatever I can to make sure we succeed in this election.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We also need leaders who, in a sustained way, revive our national character, revive our sense of pride in this country, revive our identity as Americans. And, you know, I think that that need exists as much today as it did when I first ran for president. I don't think it's going to be automatically solved in just a few years. I think Donald Trump is the right person to carry that banner forward for the next four years. But after that, we'll see where the country is headed into 2028. Whatever I do, it'll be whatever has a maximal positive impact on the country. I'll also tell you that my laser focus.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of us in some ways are hungry for purpose and meaning at a time in our history when the things that used to fill that void in our heart, they're missing. And I think we need a president who both has the right policies for the country, seal the border, grow the economy, stay at a World War III, end rampant crime. Yes, we need the right policies.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm not going to rule it out. I mean, that's a long time from now, and I'm most focused on what I can do in the next chapter for the country. I ran for president, million things that I learned from that experience that you can only learn by doing it. It was very much a fire first aim later when getting into the race. There was no way I could have planned and plotted this out as somebody who was coming from the outside. I was 37 years old, came from the business world. So there was a lot that only could learn by actually doing it, and I did. But I care about the same things that led me into the presidential race. And I don't think the issues have been solved. I think that we have a generation that is lost in the country. It's not just young people. I think it's...”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Whatever I do next, I'll tell you this is I think reviving that sense of identity and pride, especially in the next generation, is one of the most important things we can do for this country.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I think Modi's revived that spirit in India in a way that was missing for a long time, right? India had an inferiority complex, a psychological inferiority complex. But now to be proud of its national heritage and its national myth-making and its national legacy and history, and to say that every nation does have to have a kind of myth-making about its past and to be proud of that, it's like Malcolm X actually said this here in the United States, is that a nation without an appreciation for its history Like a tree without roots. It's dead. And I think that that's true not just for the United States, I think it's true for every other nation. I think leaders like Maloney in Italy, leaders like Modi in India have done a great job that I wish to bring that type of pride back.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“For it. And I think it's a big part of why I ran for president on a campaign centered on national pride. It's also why I'm not only voting for, but actively supporting Donald Trump, because I do think he is going to be the one that restores that missing national pride in the United States. And I touch on this as well in the book. There's a chapter here. It says nationalism isn't a bad word. I think nationalism can be a very positive thing. If it's grounded in the actual true attributes of a nation. And in the United States, that doesn't mean ethno-nationalism, because that was not what the national identity of the United States was based on in the first place. But a civic nationalism grounded in our actual national ideals, that is who we are. And I think that that is something that we've gotten uncomfortable with in the countries to say that, oh, I'm proud of being American. And I believe in American exceptionalism. Somehow that's looking down on others. No, I'm not looking down on anybody, but I'm proud of my...”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think I believe that someone I've gotten to know actually reasonably well, for example, recently is Georgia Maloney, who's a leader of Italy, told her the same thing. One of the things I love about her as a leader of Italy is that she does not apologize for the national identity of the country and that she stands for certain values uncompromisingly. And she doesn't give a second care about what the media has to say about it. One of the things I love last time I spoke to her when she was in the US when we sat down was she talked about she doesn't even read the newspaper. She doesn't read and watch the media and it allows her to make decisions that are best for the people. And there are elements of that in Modi's approach as well, which I respect about him is he doesn't apologize for the fact that India has a national identity and that the nation should be proud of it. But I'm not saying that because I'm proud of Maloney or Modi for their own countries. I'm American. I think there are lessons to learn from leaders who are proud of their own nation's identity rather than a politician.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In places like Russia, Ukraine, we were on the cusp of war with North Korea when Obama left office and Trump took over four years under Biden, less than four years under Biden and Harris. What do you have? Major conflicts in the Middle East, major conflict in Russia, Ukraine, judged by the results. And, you know, I mean, I would say that even if you're somebody who disagrees with a lot of Donald Trump and you don't like his style, if you're a single issue is you want to stay out of World War III, I think there's a pretty clear case for why you go for Trump in this election.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Reasonable deals that pull Russia out of the hands of China and vice versa, reasonable allies and relationships that cause China to question whether it can continue to have the same access to Middle Eastern oil supplies as it does today. And then clear red lines with China itself about what we definitely aren't okay with and understand that they may have certain red lines too. That allows us, I think, to still avoid what many people will call the unavoidable conflict, the Thucydides trap, you know, against the circumstance of when there's a rising power against the backdrop of a declining power conflict always becomes inevitable. That's a theory. It's not a law of physics. And I don't think that, A, we have to be a declining power. And B, I don't think that that has to necessarily resolve in major conflict with China here. It's going to require real leadership. Leadership with a spine. And you don't have to judge based on international relations theory to form your view on this. Four years under Trump, we didn't have major conflicts in the Middle East.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Against the backdrop that I just laid out, that's not going to happen. That wouldn't happen if we actually make sure that we're crystal clear about what our red lines and priorities are. We're also dependent on Taiwan right now for our own semiconductor supply chain. So China knows that's going to draw us into serious conflict in that circumstance. So against the backdrop of clearly drawn red lines, against the backdrop of Russia no longer automatically being in China's camp, that's a big lever. I think also strengthening our relationship with other allies where we have room to strengthen those relationships like India. And I'm not just saying that, you know, because my name is Vivek Ramaswamy, right? I'm saying it because it's strategically important to the United States to understand that, God forbid in a conflict scenario, China would perceive some risk to the Indian Ocean or the Andaman Sea, no longer being reliable for getting Middle Eastern oil supplies. There's a lot of levers here, but I think that if we are both strategically clear with our allies and with our adversaries about what our red lines are, what our priorities are.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Future when that's against the interest of the United States of America. So those are examples, but the principle here is you asked how do we avoid major conflict with China? I think it starts with clear red lines on both sides. I think it starts with also lowering the stakes for the United States by making sure we're not dependent on China for our modern way of life. And I think it also starts with, ironically, using a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine war as a way of weakening the Russia-China alliance, which in the other direction of weakening China has significant benefits to us as well.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Both sides need to have their red lines. Both sides need to have the red lines. So, you know, we can get into specifics, but it's going to vary depending on the circumstances. But the principle that I would give you is that we have to have a hard red line that's clear. I think that that hard red line, I was clear during my campaign on this, so I'll say it again, is I think that we have to have a clear red line that China will not and should not for any time in the foreseeable future annex Taiwan. I do think that for the United States, it probably is prudent right now not to suddenly upend the diplomatic policy we've adopted for decades of what is recognizing the one China policy in our position of quiet deference to that and understand that that may be the red line is the national recognition of Taiwan as an independent nation would be a red line that China would have, but we would have a red line to say that we do not in any circumstance tolerate the annexation by physical force in any time in the pursuit of the”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So that's kind of, I think. Strategic vision we need in our foreign policy than we've had since certainly the Nixon era. I think that you need people who are going to be able to challenge the status quo, question the existing orthodoxies, the willingness to use levers to get great deals done that otherwise wouldn't have gotten done. And that's why I do think someone like Donald Trump in the presidency, and obviously I ran for president as an outsider and a businessman as well. I think this is an area our foreign policy is one where we actually benefit from having business leaders in those roles rather than people who are shackled by the traditional political manner of thinking.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“From two adversaries who don't really know what the other side's red line is or isn't an accidentally crosses those red lines. And so I think we need to be much clearer with what are our hard red lines and what aren't they? And I think that's the single most effective way to make sure this doesn't spiral into major world war. And then let's talk about ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the terms that I just discussed with you before. I think weakening the Russia-China alliance not only reduces the risk that Russia becomes an aggressor, it also reduces the risk that China takes the risks that could escalate us to World War III as well. So I think that geopolitically, you got to look at these things holistically. That end of the Russia-Ukraine war and that peace deal de-escalates not only the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but the risk of a broader conflict that includes China as well, by also weakening China because Russia also has hypersonic missiles and missile capabilities that are ahead of that of China's if Russia is no longer in a military alliance with China, that changes China's”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Foreign dependence on adversary for your military. So I think that's the next step we need to take is at least reduce U.S. dependence on China for the most essential inputs for the functioning of the United States of America, including our own military. As a side note, I believe that means not just onshoring to the United States, it does, but if we're really serious about that, it also means expanding our relationships with allies like Japan, South Korea, India, the Philippines. And that's an interesting debate to have because some on the right would say, okay, I want to decouple from China, but I also want less trade with all these other places. You can't have both those things at the same time. You can have one or the other. You can't have both. And so we have to acknowledge and be honest with ourselves that there are trade-offs to declaring independence from China. But the question is, what are the long-run benefits? Now, you think about the other way to do this is strategic clarity. I think the way that you see World Wars often emerge is strategic ambiguity.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Ironically, for our own military industrial base, think about how little sense that makes, actually. Our own military, which supposedly exists to protect ourselves against adversaries, depends for its own supplies, semiconductors and otherwise, on our top adversary. That doesn't make sense. Even if you're a libertarian in the school of Friedrich von Hayek, who somebody I admire as well, even then you would not argue for...”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Few things. One is I do think the best way we also avoid it is by reducing the consequences to the United States in the event of that type of conflict. Because at that point, what you're setting up for, if the consequences are existential for the United States, then what you're buying yourself in the context of what could be a small conflict is an all-out great war. So the first thing I want to make sure we avoid is a major conflict between the United States and China, like a World War-level conflict. And the way to do that is to bring down the existential stakes for the US. And the way we bring down the existential stakes for the US is make sure that the United States does not depend on China for our modern way of life. Right now we do. Okay, so right now we depend on China for everything from the pharmaceuticals in our medicine cabinet. 95% of IBuprofen, one of the most basic medicines used in the United States, depends on China for its supply chain. We depend on China.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. I mean, in any negotiation, you got to manage when you're calling somebody and when you're not. But I do believe that open conversation and the willingness to have that as another lever in the negotiation is totally fair game.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Then I can't tell you that there's a deal to be done. There's definitely a deal to be done here. And I think that it requires real leadership in the United States playing hardball, not just with one side of this, not just with Zelensky or with Putin, but across the board, hardball for our own interests, which are the interests of stability here. And I think that that will happen to well-serve both Ukraine and Russia in the process.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think out of this conversation alone, There are a number of levers on the table for negotiation in a lot of different directions. And that's where you want to be, right? If there's only one factor that matters to each of the two parties and those are their red line factors, then there's no room for negotiation. This is a deeply complicated, historically intricate dynamic between Ukraine and Russia and between NATO and the United States and the Russia-China alliance and economic interests that are at issue combined with the geopolitical factors. There are a lot of levers for negotiation. And the more levers there are, the more likely there is to be a win-win-win deal that gets done for everybody. So I think it should be encouraging the fact that there are as many different possible levers here almost makes certain that a reasonable, practicable peace deal is possible in contrast to a situation where there's only one thing that matters for each side.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Existence of Ukraine and its sovereignty, and also stopping the bloodshed today. And I think a win for Russia, which is to reopen economic relations with the West and have certain guarantees about what the mission creep or scope creep of NATO will be, there's no rule that says that when one party before a full outright World War starts at least, there's an opportunity for there to actually be a win for everybody on the table rather than to assume that a win for us is a loss to Russia or that anything positive that happens for Russia is a loss for the United States or Ukraine.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source