Vivek Ramaswamy & CNN's John Berman Debate Trump's Rhetoric Before Presidential Debate With Biden

3 months ago

On CNN, Vivek Ramaswamy spoke to anchor John Berman about the upcoming CNN presidential debate, and former President Trump's rhetoric.

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Transcript

00:00You are said to be on that list.

00:02What policy areas has he come to you for?

00:04Look, I'm going to avoid any specific discussions I've had with President Trump, but talk about

00:10why I think this debate is going to be good for America if it's done the right way.

00:15Have you had policy discussions with Donald Trump recently?

00:22I had conversations with Donald Trump before the debate, and I'll be in Atlanta this evening

00:25as well.

00:26But what I will say is, in my impression, Donald Trump is prepared on his own two feet

00:30for this debate.

00:31My best advice to him is be yourself.

00:34Don't do what anybody else tells you to do.

00:36He's served as president of the United States, and if this is about the policy records of

00:40both presidents, and if this is about their actual policy vision for the next four years,

00:45this debate is going to be good for America.

00:47If it's about relitigating past grievances or attacks or accusations on either candidate,

00:51I think it's going to be bad for America, and I think that's what's at stake tonight.

00:55Yeah, and on the issue of policy, I am curious, because when you ran for president, one of

00:58the things you proposed was abolishing the FBI.

01:02What have you discussed with him on that front?

01:04Look, what I said in the presidential campaign reflected my own views on reorganizing the

01:10administrative state.

01:12I think the people we elect to run the government are really no longer the ones who actually

01:16run the government, and that ought to be a nonpartisan issue.

01:19But for President Trump, the top areas of focus are the areas that matter to Americans

01:23right now, fixing the mass influx of illegal migration into this country, reviving the

01:28economy, and think about stable foreign policy as well.

01:31We're closer to World War III than we've ever been this century.

01:34It was very different under the Trump years, and I think that that should be the area of

01:37focus at the debate tomorrow night.

01:39I think that's what's affecting Americans at home, and the more this goes into relitigating

01:43personalities or past accusations, the worse it's going to be for the country.

01:47And so I'm looking forward to hopefully what is a policy-rich debate that actually informs

01:52Americans of facts they need.

01:54I'll also tell you something I told President Trump, and I'll tell you as well, is I give

01:57him a lot of credit for doing this debate on the terms that were effectively set by

02:02Biden, hosted by CNN in Atlanta without a live audience, would be the equivalent of

02:07Joe Biden agreeing to do a Fox News-hosted debate in Alabama with 3,000 live audience

02:12members.

02:13So I give Donald Trump a lot of credit for that.

02:15If you're going to lead the country, you've got to be able to show up, and that's exactly

02:18what he's doing.

02:19I think every aspect of this debate was agreed to by the Trump campaign, and you know, Jake

02:23and Dan are award-winning journalists who are relentlessly fair.

02:26They will do a fantastic job.

02:27The only presidential candidate, Republican, to lose Georgia in decades is Donald Trump,

02:32so Georgia's pretty friendly territory, or should be, at least for a Republican candidate.

02:37You have some experience, recent experience, on the debate stage, and you were pretty aggressive.

02:43And some people liked it, but other people didn't.

02:45You know, for instance, the other candidates who were on that stage with you, Nikki Haley

02:48said, you're just scum.

02:50Chris Christie called you the most obnoxious blowhard in America.

02:54So what lessons did you learn about aggressive tactics in debating?

02:59Well, look, one of the things I would say is just be yourself and be true to Americans.

03:04I think the people of this country are able to snuff through pre-prepared, pre-canned

03:09talking points.

03:10One of the things I love about President Trump is he's not a guy who just sticks to a script.

03:14He's a guy who actually speaks his heart and mind.

03:16But one piece of advice I would give him, and I've gotten to know President Trump, especially

03:19after I've left the presidential race, is he is actually somebody who deeply cares about

03:25national unity.

03:26And that does not come across in the media's normal reporting of him.

03:30So one of my pieces of advice to him, and I think that he will be successful in getting

03:33this across, if not at the debate for the rest of the campaign, is how much he does

03:37care about reuniting one nation in this country.

03:40Biden pledged to unite the country.

03:42He has failed miserably.

03:44And I think that this debate tonight is a chance to focus on that vision for the future

03:48rather than re-litigating.

03:49Have you ever looked at Donald Trump's social media account, like on major national holidays

03:54where he says, happy Easter to all, even the scum, you know, and filth of the earth, things

03:58like that?

03:59That's a message of unity?

04:01Well, look, obviously, because the media is actually picking a lot of the things that

04:05he said in a position of having been a fighter, look, that first term had to be about fighting

04:10fire with fire because that's the position that he put.

04:11No, no, no, no.

04:12I'm talking about like three weeks ago.

04:14Do you think his social media account is unifying?

04:15Look, I don't think social media is set up to be unifying, period.

04:16And that's not a left-wing or a right-wing point.

04:17That's a 280 characters point.

04:18But I'm revealing a point that I think is counterintuitive to a lot of people, but is

04:19important.

04:20It's counterintuitive because they don't see a message of unity.

04:21This is a president who cares about revitalizing the greatness of America and uniting this

04:22country.

04:23And I think that's important.

04:24OK.

04:25Well, look, I think that that's a big part of what the debate provides an opportunity

04:26for, is a lot of, so much of what the public gets.

04:27They don't see a message of unity.

04:28And I think that's important.

04:29OK.

04:30Well, look, I think that that's a big part of what the debate provides an opportunity

04:43for, is a lot of, so much of what the public gets.

04:44And this is what I learned through the presidential campaign.

04:45I think it's a sad feature of American democracy today.

04:48So much of what the public gets, John, is through filters, either the filters of algorithms,

04:54the filters of cable news.

04:55And that's why I think these debates are unique moments where if people actually watch it

04:58directly from the candidates, they get to assess for themselves who those candidates

05:02really are.

05:03And the more this is about the vision for the next four years and taking advantage of

05:07a unique opportunity that Americans have not had in more than a century, there's a once

05:11in a century opportunity to say you have two presidents, both of whom have four-year

05:15records.

05:16Compare four years of Trump with four years of Biden.

05:19And I think that's a rare opportunity that ought not be squandered by personality-based

05:23accusations.

05:24That's what a successful debate is about.

05:25Look, 100 percent, this debate is an unbelievable opportunity for voters to look at both candidates

05:31and assess that.

05:32I think that is indisputable at this point.

05:34Again, I just, people should go look at Donald Trump's social media account, which is unfiltered.

05:38He writes it.

05:40America sees it.

05:41It's unfiltered there.

05:42On the aggressive tactics, the reason I did bring that up, because Trump himself seemed

05:45to acknowledge that four years ago in the first debate, he came out too hot.

05:49He told the Washington Examiner, I was very aggressive in the first one.

05:52The second one, I was different and I got great marks on the second one.

05:56So what you're saying here is you'd like to see him less hot, less like he is on social

06:02media, something different than maybe America has seen?

06:07I'd like him to be just himself so Americans can actually see it directly for themselves

06:12rather than through the filters.

06:14Sometimes that may require aggression, but there's an expression in my own family, I

06:17talked about it in the campaign trail, and I think Donald Trump embodies it as well.

06:21You have to be strong enough to protect your kindness.

06:24Strong enough he is, and most Americans know that about him, that he's a fighter.

06:27But I'd like for Americans to also see the side of him that I've had a chance to see

06:31since I've left this race, which is that Trump also cares about leading the entire nation.

06:36And yes, dare I say, uniting this country.

06:39That part I don't think has come across through the filters.

06:41I do hope it comes across tomorrow night at the debate.

06:44And the reality is this.

06:46The last debate, let's talk about a lot of the things that happened.

06:48This is last time around during COVID.

06:50There were claims that Biden made that he had no involvement in his son's dealings.

06:54We were in an era of social media censorship.

06:56We were in an era where the Hunter Biden laptop story was suppressed on the eve of the last

07:01election.

07:02I hope everybody has learned those lessons of the past to say that, you know what, we're

07:05not going the way of censorship this time around.

07:07We're not going the way of distorting the information the public gets.

07:10This time around as a country, let's learn from our mistakes of the past, give the information

07:14to the voters so they're able to make their own decisions.

07:18And one of the things I really worry about for the country right now, John, is this.

07:21I think it's a very real possible scenario, is that Biden's coming in, you talk about

07:25coming in hot, probably going to call Trump a convicted felon.

07:29Well, let's play this out.

07:30A lot of legal experts believe this is going to be overturned on appeal or by the Supreme

07:34Court.

07:35And I worry about a scenario where, God forbid, we have another election.

07:38If Biden won it by a narrow margin and then the Supreme Court overturns it after the fact,

07:43and we know that actually affected the views of voters, I worry about this country.

07:48That's even worse than the suppression of the Hunter Biden story on the eve of the last

07:51election.

07:52So this time, let the voters have the facts.

07:53And I hope this country, from the media to the political establishment, has learned the

07:57failures of 2020 to do right by Americans this time around.

08:01Well, look, I think it's refreshing to hear you say you want people to respect the results

08:05of the election.

08:07And I'm glad you also want people to see both candidates unfiltered, without the filter

08:12of, say, a presidential rally, like people get to hear President Trump, former President

08:16Trump talk a lot.

08:17We will see this debate tomorrow night right here on CNN.

08:19Vivek Ramaswamy, thank you so much for being with us.

08:22Appreciate your time.

08:23President Biden and former President Trump will face

Vivek Ramaswamy & CNN's John Berman Debate Trump's Rhetoric Before Presidential Debate With Biden

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