The day after Fox News host Sean Hannity unceremoniously dumped fading GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy following an astonishingly heated exchange, Ramaswamy used that “disaster” to beg his supporters to give his 2024 campaign money.
“That so-called interview with Sean Hannity last night was a disaster,” the anti-woke billionaire sneered in an Instagram video on Friday. “It is the epitome of what the establishment is trying to do.”
Ramaswamy, who has been a ubiquitous presence on Fox News and other cable networks over the past year, claimed that the clash was proof that “they don’t want you to hear from me.” In his opinion, the reason why the media supposedly wants to silence him is he’s “speaking the truth about the topics you’re not supposed to talk about.”
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Turning to the topic of conversation that sparked the blowup with Hannity on Thursday night, the biotech entrepreneur said a main point of contention was the “Super PAC puppet-masters in the Republican Party wielding their puppets.” In particular, he took aim at fellow Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley.
“Making money off her time in government,” he exclaimed. “No, I don’t think a commander-in-chief of this country should be able to lead the United States if you’re in the habit of making money off of your time in public service. I don’t care if that’s Biden. I don’t care if that’s a Republican. That’s a basic principle.”
Claiming he’s “relying on the grassroots to lift us up,” Ramaswamy then made his pitch for campaign cash.
“It’s not even about the money, it’s about the signal we send,” he stated before urging viewers to go to his campaign website. “Make sure you’re lifting us up. I’m counting on you. Maybe it’s $25, maybe it’s a dollar, it doesn’t matter. It’s the signal that we send, and I’m counting on you.”
In what some media observers labeled a “masterclass,” Hannity relentlessly confronted Ramaswamy over his propensity to deny his own words, repeatedly throwing the candidate’s quotes back in his face while not letting up on the media-savvy Republican.
Ramaswamy, meanwhile, attempted to filibuster and dodge Hannity’s questions, only making the Trump-boosting Fox News star increasingly annoyed.
Amid the escalating Israel-Hamas conflict, Ramaswamy appeared on former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s podcast this week and claimed that his 2024 GOP rivals were “ignoring the interests of the U.S. right here at home” by focusing on foreign wars and engaging in “selective moral outrage.” He also told Carlson that it was “shameful” that “financial and corrupting influences” led politicians to express support for these conflicts, including Haley in that group.
“You’re saying that her concern for Israel is driven by financial and a corrupting influence. And your explanation that there is a disproportionate focus on rape, kidnapping and murder of the Jewish people in this attack and, your quote, ‘That there are, frankly, financial and corrupting influences that lead them exactly to speak the way they do,” Hannity said on Thursday night, prompting Ramaswamy to object.
“Sean, that is a shameful mischaracterization,” Ramaswamy said.
“Hey Vivek, stop right now,” Hannity shot back. “I’ll read the exact—you do this in every single interview: You say stuff and then you deny it. You deny your own words. So, you know, why don’t you just own what you say and stand by it and stop playing these games?”
After several minutes of a heated back and forth, which also featured Ramaswamy trying to take a dig at Fox by complimenting the ousted Carlson, an incensed Hannity eventually dropped Ramaswamy after Ramaswamy finally agreed that Hannity was accurately quoting his words.
“Thank you. Goodbye,” Hannity fumed before taking an inadvertent shot at the ex-president. “I think people that never held public office, like you, maybe they’re not qualified to be president.”
Ramaswamy turning on Fox News (and vice-versa) is a stunning reversal since it was just two months ago when he appeared to be the right-wing network’s preferred non-Trump competitor for the GOP nomination. Following August’s Republican debate, which featured Haley directly confronting Ramaswamy over his lack of experience, the conservative cable giant seemingly shifted its support behind the former South Carolina governor.
