Despite his best efforts, 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 plaguing America’s conservative youth culture on Tuesday when he headlined a Turning Point USA event in Montana.
Speaking at Montana State University, Ramaswamy presented troubling questions about how he thought he could adequately participate in electoral politics when his religion and ethnic identity do not fit stereotypical ideals of white Americans.
“Jesus Christ is God, and there is no other God,” one student said. “How can you represent Ohio voters who are 64% Christian if you are not of that faith?
“If you are an Indian, a Hindu, coming from a different culture and religion than those who founded this country, those who made this country grow, built this country, made this country the beautiful thing that it is today,” he continued. “What are you keeping? You’re making change. I’ll be 100% honest with you: Christianity is the only truth.”
A student asked Ramaswamy why he chose to “pass as a Christian.”
Before becoming a Trumpworld alt-player, Ramaswamy 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 with some members of Turning Point USA, who were apparently more obsessed with Christian nationalism than respecting First Amendment rights in matters of freedom of religion.
“I’m an ethical monotheist, that’s how I would describe my faith,” Ramaswamy said in another jarring exchange with a student. “Do you think it is inappropriate for someone who is Hindu 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 how those values are? Wouldn’t that contradict your beliefs?”
The tour stop had been planned before the assassination of Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk in September. Kirk started Turning Point to spread conservative ideology among America’s youth.
There are some 900 official college chapters and about 1,200 high school chapters of Turning Point USA across the country, but the conservative rights nonprofit organization has received more than 54,000 requests for new chapters on campus in the 48 hours following Kirk’s assassination, TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet announcement last month.
