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

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“If Ukraine had done a deal back then, I think it is unambiguous that they would have done a better deal for themselves than they're doing now after having spent hundreds of billions of dollars and expended tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives. So the idea that Ukraine is somehow better off because it failed to do that deal before is a lie. And if we're not willing to learn from those mistakes of the recent past, we're doomed to repeat them again. So this idea that it would be painful for Ukraine, you know, it's been painful. Tens and tens and tens of thousands of people continuing to die without any increased leverage in actually getting the outcome that they want. So I think there's an opportunity for a win-win-win, a win for the United States and the West more broadly in weakening the Russia-China alliance, a win for Ukraine in having an agreement that is backstopped by the United States of America's interests that provides a greater degree of long-run security to the future.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But I could make a case that an immediate peace deal is also now in the best interests of Ukraine. Let's just rewind the clock. We're looking at now, let's just say we're early 2022, maybe June of 2022. Zelensky was ready to come to the table for a deal back then until Boris Johnson traveled when he had his own domestic political travails to convince Zelensky to”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Very least unimaginative about the levers that we're able to use. Actually, I was a little bit critical of Nixon earlier in this discussion for his contribution to the overgrowth of the US entitlement state and regulatory state. But I'll give Nixon credit here on a different point, which is that he was imaginative of being able to pull Red China out from the clasp of the USSR. He broke the China-Russia alliance back then, which was an important step to bring us to the near end of the Cold War. So I think there's an opportunity for a similar unconventional maneuver now of using greater reopened economic relations with Russia to pull Russia out from the hands of China today. There's no skin off Ukraine's back for that. And I do think that's a big carrot for Russia in this direction. I do think that will involve some level of territorial negotiation as well that, you know, out of any good deal, not everyone's going to like 100% of what comes out of it. But that's part of the cost of securing peace is that not everyone's going to be happy about every adjustment.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I actually think that that would come down to the specifics of the negotiation. But the core goals of the negotiation are peace in this war, weaken the Russia-China alliance. And for Russia, what did they get out of it? Part of this is here's something that's not negative for Ukraine, but that could be positive for Russia as part of that deal, right? Because it's not a zero-sum game alone with Ukraine on the losing end of this. I think reopening economic relations with the West would be a big win for Russia, but also a carrot that gets them out of that military relationship with China. So I do think that the foreign policy establishment has historically been...”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, I think the military alliance between Russia and China represents the single greatest threat we face. So do a deal that's very reasonable across the board, but one of the main things we get out of it is weakening that alliance so no joint military exercises, no military collaborations. These are monitorable. These are monitorable attributes. If there's cheating on that, we're going to immediately have consequences as a consequence of their cheating, but we can't cheat on our own obligations that we would make in the context of that deal as well.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In return for that, able to provide Russia some things that are important to Russia, we'd have to have a reasonable discussion about what the territorial concessions would be at the end of this war to bring it to peace and resolution and what the guarantees are to make sure that NATO is going to not expand beyond the scope of what the United States has at least historically guaranteed. That, I think, together would be a reasonable deal that gives every party what they're looking for that results in immediate peace, that results in greater stability, and most importantly, weakening the Russia-China alliance, which I think is the actual threat that we have so far, no matter who in this debate of more or less Ukraine funding has really failed to confront that, I think, is the way we de-escalate the risk of World War III and weaken the threats to the West by actually dismantling that alliance.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Too in the long run, because right now Vladimir Putin does not enjoy being Xi Jinping's little brother in that relationship. But Russia's military combined with China's naval capacity and Russia's hypersonic missiles and China's economic might, together those countries in an alliance pose a real threat to the United States. But if as a condition for a reasonable discussion about where different territories land, given what's occupied right now, hard requirements that Russia remove its military presence from the Western Hemisphere, People forget this. Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, we don't want a Russian military presence in the Western Hemisphere. That too would be a win for the United States. No more joint military exercises with China off the coast of the Aleutian Islands. The kinds of wins that the United States wants to protect the West's security get rush out of the Western hemisphere, certainly out of the North American periphery, and then also make sure that Russia is no longer in that military alliance with China.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And that is a violation of international norms, and it's a violation of the recognition of international law of nations without borders are not a nation. And so against that backdrop, what's the actual interest of each country here? I think if we're able to do a reasonable deal that gives Russia the assurances it needs about what they might allege as NATO expansionism violating prior commitments, but get codified commitments for Russia that we're not going to see willy-nilly behavior of just randomly deciding they're going to violate the sovereignty of neighboring nations and have hard assurances and consequences for that. That's the beginnings of a deal. But then I want to be ambitious for the United States. I want to weaken the Russia-China alliance. And I think that we can do a deal that requires, that gives some real gives to Russia conditioned on Russia withdrawing itself from its military alliance with China. And this could be good for Russia.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so look, I think that let's just get the self-interest of each party on the table. And to be very transparent about it from everyone's perspective, they think the other side is the aggressor or whatever, just get it on the table. Russia is concerned about NATO shifting the balance of power away from Russia to Western Europe when NATO has expanded far more than they expected to. frankly, that Russia was told that NATO was going to expand. It's an uncomfortable fact for some in America, but James Baker made a commitment to Mikhail Gorbachev in the early 90s, where he said NATO would expand not one inch past East Germany. Well, NATO's expanded far more after the fall of the USSR than it did during the existence of the USSR. And that is a reality we have to contend with. That's the Russian perspective. From the Western perspective, the hard fact is Russia was the aggressor in this conflict crossing the boundaries of a sovereign nation.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is better off if we have a focus on both the policies but also who's going to be more likely to revive the country. That, I think, is a healthy debate headed to an election.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But I do think that if we're able to use levity in a moment of national division, in some ways, I think right now is probably a role where really good stand-up comedians could probably do a big service to the country if they're able to laugh at everybody 360 degrees. So they can go up there and make fun of Donald Trump all they want, do it in a light-hearted and manner that loves the country, do the same thing to Kamala Harris with an equal standard. I think that's actually good for the country. But, you know, I think I'm more interested, Lex, as you know, in discussing the future direction of the country, my own views. I was a presidential candidate who ran against Donald Trump, by the way, and is supporting him now. But I just prefer engaging on the substance of what I think each candidate's going to achieve for the country rather than picking on really the personal attributes of either one, right? I'm not criticizing Kamal Harris's manner of laugh or whatever one might criticize as like a personal attribute of hers that you may hear elsewhere. And I just think are kind of.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He's a funny guy. I mean, the reality is different people have different attributes. One of the attributes for Donald Trump is he's one of the funnier presidents we've had in a long time. That might not be everybody's cup of tea. Maybe it's different people don't want, that's not a quality they value in their president. I think at a moment where you're also able to make, I will say this much is everybody's got different styles, Donald Trump styles different from mine.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think that's going to be good for the country. I think a decisive victory that unites the country, turns the page on a lot of the challenges of the last four years, and says, okay, this is where we're going. This is who we are and what we stand for. This is a revival of our national identity and revive national pride in the United States, regardless of whether you're a Democrat or Republican. That, I think, is achievable in this election too. And that's what the outcome I'm rooting for.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is irresponsible at least for the Democratic Party to make their core case against Donald Trump. It was Joe Biden's entire message for years that he's a threat to democracy and to the existence of America. Well, if you keep saying that about somebody against the backdrop conditions that we live in as a country, I don't think that's good for a nation. And so do I have concerns about the future of the country? Do I think we're skating on thin ice? Absolutely. And I think the best way around it is really through it. Through it in this election, win by a landslide. I think a unifying landslide could be the best thing that happens for this country. Like Reagan delivered in 1980 and then again in 1984. And in a very practical note, a landslide minus some shenanigans is still going to be a victory. That, I think, is how we unite this country. And so I don't think, you know, 50.001 margin where cable news is declaring the winner six days after the election.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, I don't think that that's a. Concerned to frame narrowly in the context of Donald Trump winning it or losing it by a whisker. I think this is a man who in the last couple of months, in span of two months, has faced two assassination attempts. And we're not talking about theoretical attempts. We're talking about like gunshots fired. That is history changing in the context of American history. We haven't seen that in a generation. And yet now that has become normalized in the US. So do I worry we're skating on thin ice as a country? I do. I do think it is a little bit strange to obsess over our concerns or national or media concerns over Donald Trump. When in fact he's the one on the receiving end of fire from assailants who reportedly are saying exactly the kinds of things about him that you hear from the democratic machine. And I do think that it is...”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Achieve in a second term. I think the answer is absolutely yes. And so even if you don't agree with everything that he's said or done in the choice ahead of us in this election, I still believe he's unambiguously the best choice to revive that sense of national pride and also prosperity in our country. So people aren't in the condition where they're suffering at behest of government policies that leave them angry and channel that anger in other unproductive ways. No, the best way to do it is actually actions do speak louder than words, implement the policies that make people's lives better. And I do think that that's the next step of how we best save the country.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Now good at other points in the history of the United States. The reaction to systematic coordinated censorship and restraints on the freedom of a free people is never good. And if you want to really understand what happened, one really wants to get to the bottom of it rather than figuring out who to point fingers at, that really was the essence of the national malaise at the end of 2020, is it was the year of unjust policies, including COVID-19 lockdowns, systematic lies about it, lies about the election, that created a level of public frustration that I think was understandable. Now, the job of leaders is to how do you channel that in the most productive direction possible. And to your question, you know, to the independent voter out there evaluating, as you are, do I think that Donald Trump has exhibited a lot of growth based on his experience in his first term and what he hopes to do?”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So here's my view has any US politician ever been perfect throughout the course of American history? No. But if we want to understand the essence of what was going around in 2020, the mindset of the country, we had a year where people in this country were systematically locked down, told to shut up, sit down, do as they're told, unless they're BLM or Antifiers, in which case it's perfectly fine for them to burn cities down. We were told that we're going to have an election, a free and fair election, and then they were denied information systematically heading into that election, which was really important, and in this case, damning information about one of the parties. And then you tell these people that they still have to continue to shut up and comply. That creates, I think, a real culture of deep frustration in the United States of America. And I think that the reaction to systematic censorship is never good. History teaches us that. It's not good in the United States.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Election. Let's do a thought experiment here. Let's suppose that Russia orchestrated that. What would the backlash be? Let's say the Russian government orchestrated the U.S. election was, they interfered in it by saying that tech companies, they worked at them covertly to stop U.S. citizens from being able to see information on the even election. There would be a mass uproar in this country if the Russian government orchestrated that. Well, if actors in the U.S. government bureaucracy or the U.S. technology industry bureaucracy orchestrated the same thing, then we can't apply a different standard to say that if Russia did it, it's really bad it interfered in our election. But if it happened right here in the United States of America, and by the way, they blamed Russia for it, falsely, on the Russian disinformation of the Hunterbein laptop story that was false claim, we have to apply the same standard in both cases. And so the fact that if that were Russian interference, it would have been an outcry, but now it happened domestically and we just call that, hey, it's a little bit of bias ahead.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's a different issue from saying that voters don't get access to information through any source. So this Hunter Biden laptop story, we now know that it contains evidence of foreign interference in potentially the Biden administration and their families' incentive structure. That story was systematically suppressed. So in the United States of America, if you wanted to find that on the internet through any major social media platform or through even Google search, that story was suppressed or downplayed algorithmically, that you couldn't see it, even on Twitter, if you tried to send it via direct message. That's the equivalent of email, right? Sending it peer-to-peer message, they blocked you from even being able to send that story using private messages. That, I think, is a different level of concern. That's not bias at that point. That's outright interference in whether or not that's outright interference.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Just two different problems. I just want to sort them out, right? Because I have a problem with both. You talked about two issues, and I think both are important, but they're different issues. One is bias in reporting. One is censorship of information. So bias in reporting, I felt certainly the recent presidential debate moderated by ABC was biased in the way that it was conducted. But”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Let me ask you one question about because there's bias is one thing, bias in reporting. Censorship is another. So I would be open-minded to hearing an instance of, and if I did hear it, I would condemn it. Of the government Systematically ordering tech companies to suppress information that was favorable to Democrats, suppress that information, to lift up Republicans. If there was an instance that we know of government bureaucrats that were ordering technology companies covertly to silence information that voters otherwise would have had to advantage Republicans at the ballot box, to censor it, I would be against that. And I would condemn that with equal force as I do to the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, suppression, and censorship of the origin of COVID-19. All happened in 2020. These are hard facts.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We can't know, obviously. I looked at some post election polling about the views that that would have had. I can't prove that to you, but that's my instinct. It's my opinion.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If we get to that simple place of basic election security measures, I think they'd be unifying too. Make Election Day a national holiday that unites us around our civic purpose one day, single day voting on Election Day as a national holiday with paper ballots and government-issued vote right to match the voter file. Get there as a country, and you have my word, I will lead our movement in whatever way I can to make sure we are done complaining about stone elections and fake ballots. And I think that fact that you see resistance to that proposal, which is otherwise very practical, very reasonable, nonpartisan proposal, I think the fact of that resistance actually provokes a lot of understandable skepticism, understandable skepticism, okay, what else is actually going on if not, if not that, what exactly is going on here?”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Now you look at, okay, let's talk about constructive solutions because I care about moving the country forward. What is a constructive solution to this issue of concerns about election integrity? Here's one Single day voting on election day as a national holiday with paper ballots and government issued voter ID to match the voter file I favor that. We do it even in Puerto Rico, which is a territory of the United States. Why not do that everywhere in the United States? And I'll make a pledge. I'll do it right here, right? My pledge is. As a leader in our movement, I will do Everything in my power to make sure we are done complaining about stolen elections.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it might be the most undemocratic thing that's happened in the history of our country, actually, is the way in which government actors who are never elected to the government used private sector actors to suppress information on the eve of an election that based on polling afterwards likely did influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. That was election interference of the highest order. So I think that that's just a hard fact that we have to contend with. And I think a lot of what you've heard in terms of complaints about the 2020 election, whatever those complaints have been, take place against the backdrop of large technology companies interfering in that election in a way that I think did have an impact on the outcome. I personally believe if the Hunter Biden laptop story had not been suppressed and censored, I think Donald Trump would have been unambiguous. I think the president of the United States right now would be Donald Trump, no doubt about it, in my mind. If you look at polling before and after and the impact that would have had on the independent voter.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Now, I think the facts of the backdrop of the 2020 election actually really do matter. I don't think you can isolate one particular aspect of criticizing the 2020 election without looking at it holistically. On the eve of the 2020 presidential election, we saw a systematic bureaucratically and government-aided suppression of probably the single most important piece of information released on the eve of that election, the Hunter Biden laptop story, revealing potentially a compromised U.S. presidential candidate. His family was compromised by foreign interests, and it was suppressed as misinformation by every major tech company. The New York Post had its own Twitter account locked at that time, and we now know that many of the censorship decisions made in the year twenty twenty were actually made at behalf.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I'll respond to that. Obviously, I'm not the candidate, but I'm going to give you my perspective nonetheless. I think we have seen some growth from Donald Trump over that first term in the experience of the 2020 election, and you hear a lot of that on the campaign trial. I heard a lot of that even in the conversation that he had with you. I think he is more ambitious for that second term than he was for that first term. So I thought that was the most interesting part of what you just said is you're looking for somebody who has growth from their own experiences. Say what you will. I have seen, personally, I believe some meaningful level of personal growth and ambition for what Donald Trump hopes to achieve for the country in the second term that he wasn't able to, for one reason or another COVID, you could put a lot of different things on it, but in that first term.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Let me ask you, you spoke to Donald Trump recently. What's your top objection to potentially voting for Donald Trump? And let me see if I can address that.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Older presidents, we will have had who was elected. How do we convince those people to vote from? That's what I would give you in that category.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I actually think it is, if you were making that case, and here's my full support, as you know. But if you were making that case, I think for many voters who are of the next generation, they're asking a question about how are you going to understand the position that I'm in as a member of a new generation, the same criticism they had of Biden. They could say, oh, well, are you too old? Are you from a different generation that's too far removed from my generation's concerns? And I think that that's in many ways a factor that weighs on, that was weighing on both Trump and Biden. But when they played the trick of swapping out Joe Biden, it left that issue much more on the table for Donald Trump. So you're asking me to steal man it's what I would say is that when I look at what's the number one issue that I would need to personade independent voters of to say that no, no, this is still the right choices, even though the other side claims to offer a new generation of leadership, here is somebody who is one of the”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I ran for US president against Donald Trump, so I'm going to give you what my perspective is. I think it's nothing of what you hear on MSNBC. You're from the left attacking him to be a threat to democracy. I think all of that's actually nonsense.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Now, that being said, that's just a philosophy. Okay, that's a personal philosophy. You asked me to do something different, and I'm always a fan. One of the things, the standard I hope that people hold me to when they read this book as well is I try to do that in this book is to give the best possible argument for the other side. You don't want to give some rinky-dink argument for the other side and knock it down. You want to give the best possible argument for the other side and then offer your own view, or else you don't understand your own. So you ask me, what's the strongest case against Donald Trump?”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So look, I think the United States of America, I preached this to the left. I preach it to my kids. We got to accept it on our own side too. We're not going to save this country by being victims. We're going to save this country by being victorious. Okay. And I don't care whether it's left-wing victimhood, right-wing victimhood. I'm against victimhood culture. The number one factor that determines whether you achieve something in life is you. I believe that's not the only factor that matters. There's a lot of other factors that affect whether or not you succeed. Life is not fair. I tell my kids the same thing the number one factor that determines whether or not you succeed in achieving your goal is you. If I tell to my kids and I preach it to the left, I'm going to preach that to our own side as well.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“She had the stones to say, if I may say it that way, things that many on the right believe, but haven't quite articulated in the way that she has. And I think we need to have that debate in the open. Now, personally, I think most of the conservative movement actually is with me on this, but I think it's become a very popular counter-narrative in the other direction to say that your vision of American identity is tied is far more physical in nature. And to me, I think it is still ideals-based in nature. And I think that that's a good debate for the future for us to have in the conservative movement. And I think it's going to be a defining feature of what direction the conservative movement goes in the future.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Disagree with that. The American Revolution basically disproves that. The American Revolution was fought for anything over abstract ideals that said that, you know what, we believe in self-governance and free speech and free exercise of religion. That's what we believe in the United States, which was different from Old World England. So I do think that there is this brewing debate on the right. And do I disagree like hell with Anne Coulter on this? Absolutely. And did I take serious issue with some of the things she told me? Absolutely. But I also believe that”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“After a certain year doesn't count either. That just becomes highly uncompelling as a view of what American national identity actually is versus my view that American national identity is grounded on whether or not you pledge allegiance to the ideals codified in the Declaration of Independence and actualized. And, you know, it's been said some of my friends on the right have said things like people will not die for a set of ideals. People won't fight for abstractions or abstract ideals.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Every other nation is also built on the same idea. Most nations have been built on common blood and soil arguments, genetic stock of, you know, Italy or Japan would have a stronger national identity than the United States in that case because they have a much longer standing claim on what their genetic lineage really was. The ethnicity of the people is far more pure in those contexts than in the United States. So that's the first reason. American exceptionalism becomes impossible. The second is there's all kinds of contradictions that then start to emerge. Your claim on American identity is defined based on how long you've been here, well, then the Native Americans would have a far greater claim of being American than somebody who came here on the Mayflower or somebody who came here afterwards. Now, maybe that blood and soil view is, no, no, it's not quite the Native Americans. You only have to start at this point and end at this point. So on this view of blood and soil identity has to be, okay, you couldn't have come before a certain year, then it doesn't count.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that view fails on several accounts. Obviously, we're a nation. Every nation has to have a geographic space that it defines its own. So obviously we are, among other things, a geographic space. But the essence of the United States of America, I think, is the common creed, the ideals that hold that common nation together. Without that, a few things happen. First of all, American exceptionalism becomes impossible, and I'll tell you why.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The blood and soil is what makes for your American identity, your genetic lineage. And I just reject that view. I think it's anti American. I think what makes for an American identity is your allegiance, your unabiding allegiance to the founding ideals of this country and your willingness to pledge allegiance to those ideals. So those are two different views. I think that there is a view on the American right now that says that we're not a creed old nation, that our nation's not about a creed, it's about a physical place and a physical homeland.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not you, Vivek. She said, well, maybe you, but not people like you. So that whole kind of approach to immigration, I think is really anti-meritocratic. And even anti-American. Anti-American, yeah. So I want to confront this directly because it is a popular current on the American right. The reason I'm not picking Anne Coulter specifically is I think actually it's a much more widely shared view. And I just give her at least credit for willing to articulate it, a view that”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is built on not only a lie, but on rewarding those who do lie. And that's what I want to see change. Just to linger a little bit on the demonization and to bring Anne culture into the picture. Which I recommend people should listen to your conversation with her. I haven't listened to her much, but she had this thing where she clearly admires and respects you as a human being. And she's basically saying you're one of the good ones. And this idea that you had this brilliant question of like what does it mean to be an American And she basically said”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Prices and we need to protect American workers from the effects of that downward pressure on wages. It's a goal. It's a coherent goal. I don't think it's the right goal, but many of my friends on the right believe that's a goal. But at least it's honest and then we can design an honest immigration system to achieve that goal if that's their goal. I have other friends on the right that say the sole goal is economic growth. Nothing else matters. I disagree with that as well. My view is the goal should be whatever enriches the civic quality of the United States of America. That includes those who know the language, know our ideals, pledge allegiance to those ideals, and also are willing to make economic contributions to the country, which is one of our ideals as well. But whatever it is, we can have that debate. I have a very different view. I don't think it's a proper role of immigration policy to make it a form of labor policy because the United States of America is founded on excellence. We should be able to compete. But that's a policy debate we can have. But right now, we're not even able to have the policy debate because the whole immigration policy”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Exactly what our immigration system is doing to the United States of America is literally selecting for the people who are willing to lie. Let's say you have somebody who's a person of integrity says, okay, I want a better life for my family, but I want to teach my kids that I'm not going to lie or break the law to do it. That person is infinitely less likely to get into the United States. I know it sounds provocative to frame it that way, but it is not an opinion. It is a fact that that is the number one human attribute that our current immigration system is selecting for. I want an immigration system centered on honesty. In order to implement that, we require acknowledging what the goals of our immigration system are in the first place. And there we have competing visions on the right amongst conservatives. There's a rift. Some conservatives believe, I respect them for their honesty, I disagree with them, believe that the goal of the immigration system should be to, in part, protect American workers from the effects of foreign wage competition. That if we have immigrants going to bring down”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“bodily harm or near term risk of bodily injury based on your religion, your ethnicity, or certain other factors. And so when you come into the country, you're asked, do you fulfill that criteria or not? And the number one way to get into this country is to check the box and say yes. So that means just systematically. Imagine if you're a university, Harvard or Yale or whatever, you're running your admissions process. The number one attribute you're selecting for isn't your SAT score. It isn't your GPA. It isn't your athletic accomplishments. It's whether or not you're willing to lie on the application. You're going to have a class populated by a bunch of charlatans and frauds.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Achieve a goal. And right now our immigration system, if it rewards one quality over any other, if there's one parameter that it rewards over any other, it isn't civic allegiance to the United States. It isn't fluency in English. It isn't the ability to make an economic contribution to this country. The number one attribute, human attribute that our immigration system rewards is whether or not you are willing to lie. And the people who are telling those lies about whether they're seeking asylum or not are the ones who are most likely to get in. And the people who are most unwilling to tell those lies are the ones who are actually not getting in. That is a hard, uncomfortable truth about our immigration system. And the reason is because the law says you only get asylum if you're going to face”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Identify what the objective is. We could debate the objectives. We might have different opinions on the objectives. Some people may say the objective is the economic growth of the United States. And Think that that's insufficient personally. Personally, I think you need the United States is more than just an economic zone. It is a country. It is a nation bound together by civic ideals. I think we need to screen not just for immigrants who are going to make economic contributions, but those who speak our language, those who are able to assimilate, and those who share those civic ideals and know the U.S. history even better than the average U.S. citizen who's here. That's what I believe. But even if you disagree with me and say, no, no, no, no, the sole goal is economic production in the United States, then at least have an immigration system that's honest about that rather than one which claims to solve for that goal by bringing in people who are rewarded for being a refugee. We should reward the people in that model, which is, I don't even think should be the whole model. But even if that were your model, reward the people who are demonstrative have demonstrably proven that they would make economic contributions to the United States, not the people who have demonstrated that they're willing to lie.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, and sort of in this part of why I wrote this book, the book is called Truths. So I better darn well have well-sourced facts in here, right? Can't be made up hypotheses, hard truths. And there's a chapter where even in my own research on it, Like, I know a lot about this issue from my time as a presidential candidate, but even in writing the chapter on the border here, I learned a lot from a lot of different dimensions and some of which even caused me to revise some of my premises going into it. My main thesis in that chapter is forget the demonization of illegal or legal immigrants or whatever, as you put it, right? Fearmonger, just put all that to one side. I want an immigration system that is built on”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Relative mansions in parts of Mexico or Central America after they've spent four or five years making money here, just abandon the lie. Let's just have an immigration system built on honesty. Just tell the truth. If the argument is that we need more people here for economically filling jobs, I'm skeptical the extent to which a lot of those arguments actually end up being true, but let's have that debate in the open rather than having it through the back door saying that it's refugee and asylum status when we know it's a lie and then we justify it after the fact by saying that that economically helps the United States cut the dishonesty. And I just think that that is a policy we would do well to expand every sphere. We talk about from the military industrial complex to the rise of the managerial class to a lot of what our government's covered up about our own history to even this question of immigration today. Just tell the people the truth. And I think our government would be better serving our people if it did.”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Fleeing. Vladimir Putin's intolerant LGBT anti-LGBTQ regime. She was fleeing persecution by the evil man Putin. She came here and eventually when she was pressed on the series of lies it came out that she was crying finally when she broke down and admitted this. She was like, I'm not even gay. I don't even like gay people. That's what she said. And yet she was pretending to be some sort of LGBTQ advocate who was persecuted in Russia when in fact it was just somebody who was seeking better economic conditions in the United States. I'm not saying you're wrong to seek better economic conditions in the United States, but you are wrong to lie about it. And that's what you're seeing a lot of people even in this industry of sort of quote unquote tourism to the United States. They're having their kids in the United States. They go back to their home country, but their kids enjoy birthright citizenship. That's built on a lie. You have people claiming to suffer from persecution. In fact, they're just working in the United States and then living in the...”
2024-09-25 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #445 – Vivek Ramaswamy: Trump, Conservatism, Nationalism, Immigration, and War · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source