FACT CHECK: Tweet Allegedly Showing Vivek Ramaswamy Criticizing Trump Campaign is Fake
A post shared on Facebook claims to show a tweet from entrepreneur and former Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy criticizing former President Donald Trump’s campaign for focusing on “crowd sizes” rather than policy issues.
Verdict: False
The tweet is not from Ramaswamy’s official account, but rather an impersonation account. The former candidate has recently called for a “reset” of the campaign.
Fact Check:
Democratic Vice President and presumptive Presidential nominee Kamala Harris recently appeared to call Trump a “coward” while attacking his rhetoric and remarks, according to Fox News. The remarks come after Harris released her economic plan during a campaign stop in North Carolina, which some economist warning the plan, especially regarding price-gouging, could result in “shortages of goods,” ABC News reported.
The Facebook post appears to show a post from Ramaswamy on X, formerly known as Twitter, criticizing the Trump campaign for their focus on crowd sizes rather than policy. “We should be focusing on attacking Kamala’s flawed policies and lack of experience,” the post reads in part. “Not getting distracted by unproductive arguments.
“No worries, Vivek! We’re sure he’ll take your advice,” the post’s caption reads.
The post is not from Ramaswamy’s official account. The original post, uploaded on Aug. 11, stems from a parody account misspelling Ramaswamy’s last name. In addition, the username, along with the user’s bio, indicates the post is satirical.
It damages Trump’s campaign to claim something is AI when it clearly isn’t. Call me a sellout if you want, but I don’t want Trump to lose over this trivial narrative about crowd sizes. He’s surrounded by bad advisors who are pushing this nonsense. We should be focusing on…
— Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy (parody) (@VivekRammaswamy) August 11, 2024
Ramaswamy’s official account does not show any tweets made on Aug. 11, the day the post was purportedly written. The most recent archive of the page, from Aug. 13, does not show any post with similar language in the parody account’s post. (RELATED: Fact-Checking Harris’ Claim About The SCOTUS Presidential Immunity Ruling)
The former candidate has recently called for the Trump campaign to do a “reset” of its messaging, however, according to an interview conducted by NPR. Ramaswamy said during the interview, “I think a stronger focus on policy is the path to winning this election. I also think it’s better for the country. Just speaking as an American who isn’t a partisan, necessarily, in one direction or another when I say this, I think Donald Trump is going to better serve the country and better serve his own electoral prospects by focusing on his policy record and how his policy vision is different from Kamala Harris’.”