(LibertySons.org) – In a campaign stop on the outskirts of Des Moines, Iowa, on August 25, GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy answered a question about whether he’d ever experienced racism. In his response, he called Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Dr. Ibram Kendi, the author of a book entitled “How To Be an AntiRacist,” leaders off the modern Ku Klux Klan. On August 27, CNN Host Dana Bash confronted the pharma entrepreneur about comparing the Black lawmaker to a Klan leader.
Bash told Ramaswamy he “took [things] to another level on Friday” when he called Pressley’s 2019 quote “the words of the modern grand wizard of the… KKK.” The host pointed out the KKK’s lynchings, rapes, murders, and overall oppression of black people and asked how that compared, in any way, with Pressley’s viewpoint that more people of color needed to speak out for themselves about their experiences.
The GOP hopeful said the KKK grand wizard would be proud to hear her say that the color of a person’s skin predicts the future. Ramaswamy pointed to Pressley, a Squad member, as typical of the sort of racism he has personally encountered because he hasn’t conformed to messages that the Left expected to hear from him. He quoted Pressley from 2019 when she said, “We don’t want any more black faces that don’t want to be a black voice,” adding the same for brown faces and voices.
Bash argued Ramaswamy didn’t just say KKK wizards would be proud of Pressley’s words but rather that he said she spoke for them. The candidate doubled down and said, “It is the same spirit. You’re right about that, Dana.” He said any person who believes they know the content of someone else’s character or the viewpoints they should express based on skin color is wrong and divisive.
Bash pointed out the difference between Pressley’s rhetorical political debate and the KKK’s violent aggression used for many decades to repress and subjugate minorities. Based on that difference, she asked again whether Ramaswamy felt Pressley represented the KKK’s values.
Arguing for “intellectual honesty” in the debate, the entrepreneur said at the heart of the matter, Pressley and others advocated using discriminatory techniques, like quotas and codified viewpoints, to remedy past discrimination. He despises the KKK’s actions. Yet, he believes any use or advocacy of discriminatory practices based on skin color makes Pressley sound like a KKK member.
NBC News reported that Pressley called Ramaswamy’s verbal assault “shameful,” “deeply offensive,” and “dangerous.”
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