No matter how hard he tries, Vivek Ramaswamy will never be fully accepted by the MAGA world.
The Ohio gubernatorial candidate and former DOGE co-leader came face to face with the racism rampant in America's conservative youth culture Tuesday when he headlined a Turning Point USA event in Montana.
Speaking at Montana State University, Ramaswamy presented troubling questions about how he believed he could adequately participate in electoral politics when his religion and ethnic identity did not fit the stereotypical ideals of white Americans.
“Jesus Christ is God, and there is no other God,” the student said. “How can you represent Ohioans who are 64 percent Christian if you are not part of that faith?”
“If you are an Indian, a Hindu, from a different culture, a different religion than those who founded this country, those who raised this country, built this country, made this country as beautiful as it is today,” he continued. “What are you saving? You are bringing change. I'll be 100 percent honest with you: Christianity is the only truth.”
The student asked Ramaswamy why he decided to “pass himself off as a Christian.”
Before Ramaswamy became an alternative player on Trumpworld, he was a biotech investor, entrepreneur and 2024 Republican presidential candidate. But none of those notches on his belt could make up for the color of his skin or his religion in the eyes of some members of the Turning Point USA group, which was apparently more fixated on Christian nationalism than upholding the First Amendment's freedom of religion provisions.
“I’m an ethical monotheist, that’s how I would describe my faith,” Ramaswamy said in another pointed exchange with a student. “Do you think it is inappropriate for an Indian to be President of the United States?”
“No, I think it’s…” another student began before stopping. “But isn't Charlie Kirk's organization also based on Christian values? And isn't America based on what Protestantism is and what those values are? Doesn't that go against your beliefs?”
The tour stop was planned before Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk was killed in September. Kirk launched Turning Point to spread conservative ideology among America's youth.
There are about 900 official college chapters and about 1,200 high school chapters across the country at Turning Point USA, but the conservative advocacy nonprofit has received more 54,000 requests for new campus chapters 48 hours after Kirk's murder, TPUSA spokesman Andrew Colvet announced last month.
