If Trump wins in 2024, Vivek Ramaswamy rules out joining his cabinet

Washington, Dec 25 (IANS) Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has said that he is not a "Plan B person", rejecting outright the idea or speculation of his joining the Trump cabinet in any official capacity if the former President retake the White House from Joe Biden in 2024.

Ramaswamy claimed his first priority is to focus on winning the GOP primary. But Ramaswamy has lost much of the heat or traction from his campaign as his Indian-origin American rival Nikki Haley has emerged as the top favourite among voters and GOP donors for the White House race.

Ramaswamy, 38, is one of a handful of GOP presidential candidates who trail former President Donald Trump, the longtime presumed front-runner in the party's primary.

The former President's commanding lead in poll after poll ultimately led to his decision not to participate in the Republican National Committee's presidential debates, media reports said.

"I'm not a plan B person, Maria," he told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on Sunday when asked if he'd accept a position in a second Trump administration. "I didn't get to where I am; I'm 38 years old, I've founded multiple multi-billion dollar companies, we're blessed with the American dream to be able to self-finance and lift this campaign up. I didn't get to where I am, and Apoorva (spouse) didn't get to where she is by being plan B people," he added,

"I'm actually confident we're going to over-deliver massively at the Iowa caucus," the entrepreneur-turned-presidential candidate declared.

The Trump rival candidates are facing the heat to close the margins with the former President in the polls ahead of the start of the Iowa caucus and meetings in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Even as speculation is rife that one of the candidates could end up on Trump's ticket as a running mate for the vice presidency in one’s ability to pull more votes on the combo as the formidable Biden-Harris one does with ethnic voters.

Trump is actually looking for a person who can influence the swing states in his favour: Of 10 traditional battlegrounds --Arizona, Georgia, Minnesota, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida and Ohio -- in 2020, Biden won seven, flipping a handful of states. These states include Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. All five of these states had governorship elections in the 2022 midterms. Four of them -- Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin -- have Senate seats up for election this year as well. So it’s a toss-up for either party.

Poll predictions don't always end up in voter endorsements as the samples are too small to do one's math on, pollsters from the Democratic side argue stating how Democrats won three states in the off-year elections -- Ohio, Connecticut and Kentucky.

Trump has reportedly considered the possibility of asking his former United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley, to serve as his running mate, though Trump's inner circle rejected the idea. Alternatively, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unequivocally stated he wouldn't become Trump's Vice President if he was to win the GOP nomination earlier this month, and he accused Haley of dodging whether she'd join a Trump ticket.

"Phony Ron DeSantis has spent ten times more money attacking Nikki Haley than Donald Trump. He'll say anything to try to salvage his sinking ship of a campaign. Nikki has been very clear from day one, she doesn't play for second," a Trump campaign spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.

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