9/11 Truther Vivek Ramaswamy won the hearts and minds of GOP voters last night by exuding the smarmy smugness of incel streamer Nick Fuentes while siding with Russia, calling for an increase in the combustion of fossil fuels, and for repeatedly interrupting the debate to hurl insults at the other candidates. Last night's performance has cemented his reputation as a younger, nastier, and more energetic version of Donald Trump. DeSantis's tactic of angrily yelling his answers didn't have a chance against Ramaswamy's stage-commanding presence.
Another selling point for Ramaswamy is the fact that the company that made him rich, Roivant Sciences, has never been profitable. For Republicans, "beating the system" in a Trump-like fashion is a badge of honor.
Wikikpedia reports that while serving as CEO of Roivant Sciences, Ramaswamy engineered high-profile deals that brought in major investments and generated massive personal profits for himself through share sales, even as later failures wiped out billions in shareholder value. Ramaswamy was insulated from company losses because he held his stake partially through the parent firm Roivant. For example, when clinical trials failed for Alzheimer's drug intepirdine from Roivant subsidiary Axovant, shareholders lost over 75% of their investment overnight while Ramaswamy pocketed cashed out $37 million in Axovant shares before problems emerged. In this way, Ramaswamy personally enriched himself on speculative biotech investments, while regular shareholders bore the greatest losses when expectations were not met.
He's well on his way to getting the GOP nomination.
