Political outsiders and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy responded to attacks from his rivals, mostly from the camp of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, centered on a statement he made on a podcast in April of 2020.
First, here is what he said on that podcast:
https://twitter.com/emeriticus/status/1729913580466626893?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
In his response, Ramaswamy acknowledges he made the statement in the second month of COVID when he was asked as a businessman what a reasonable way to reopen the economy would while the entire country — including Florida — was in lockdown.
“I offered an idea,” Ramaswamy said. “I said, ‘You know what, if you’ve already had natural immunity, OK, even if you were asymptomatic, if you’ve been exposed and there’s an antibody test that proves that you’ve been exposed, go ahead and at least let those people out and live a normal life.'”
Ramaswamy said he wouldn’t say it the same way today, but he didn’t have the facts he has today. Important to remember, he added, is the fact Republican governors were making cringeworthy statements bowing down and praising Anthony Fauci. And, at the time, lockdowns were the norm in states including Florida.
“At that time, was this the most cringeworthy thing that somebody said? Of course not,” Ramaswamy said. “At the time it wasn’t even that unreasonable of at thing to say even though of course I wouldn’t say that today.”
The knives are out. “Antibody tests.” “He’s sexist.” Nice try. Here’s the TRUTH. pic.twitter.com/9u1V9Np7FQ
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 29, 2023
Ramaswamy was on the podcast on April 3, 2020. One day earlier, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued an order closing all schools. In fact, Iowans had been living for nearly three weeks under new orders from Reynolds that shut down bars, restaurants, fitness centers, theaters, senior citizen centers and any gathering or event where more than 10 people would be in attendance — including spiritual or religious gatherings. In other words, church.
Two days before Ramaswamy’s appearance on the podcast, DeSantis locked down Florida.
I suppose there is some value in Ramaswamy at least admitting he was wrong, though I am not sure he went that far in his statement, and perhaps he should simplify it. There are Americans who did have their actual constitutional rights abused during COVID by actual politicians who still haven’t apologized. And likely never will.
Each voter will have to decide how they want to “score” Ramaswamy’s comments from April 3, 2020. And then they’ll have to decide how they’ll “score” actions taken by elected officials at the same time. And really for nearly the remainder of 2020, there were caps on capacity for most things.
Voters should also consider what DeSantis did after the pandemic in appointing Dr. Joseph Lapado as surgeon general of Florida. He signed a ban on COVID vaccine mandates and, almost a year ago, called for a grand jury to investigate COVID vaccine “wrongdoing.”
I suppose everyone running for office should be afforded the same opportunity. Acknowledge what they did or said. Acknowledge whether they were right or wrong in retrospect. Acknowledge what they would do or not do differently.
If there is not an acknowledgment of error, I’m not sure it’s worth reaching step three anyway.
