During a conversation with Fox News Anchor Tucker Carlson at the Family Leadership Summit, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy blamed “pervasive censorship” for motivating rebels to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Ramaswamy explained that moderation of news about Covid-19 mandates and vaccines, as well as Hunter Biden’s alleged laptop scandal, kept people in the dark and thus prompted them to attack the Capitol.
“What caused January 6 is pervasive censorship in this country in the lead-up to January 6,” said Ramaswamy, rejecting the widely accepted belief that Donald Trump instigated the insurrection. “You tell people in this country they cannot speak. That is when they scream. You tell people they cannot scream. That is when they tear things down.”
In the midst of an investigation into Trump’s role on January 6, Ramaswamy is aligning himself with the majority of the Republican party. Conservatives have repeatedly denied assertions that Trump’s claims of election fraud in 2020 were what motivated rioters to invade the Capitol.
Ramaswamy, who announced his presidential bid in February, has not always kept with mainstream positions on certain controversial issues. For example, his foreign policy plan includes giving Russia the land it has been fighting to take in Ukraine, in exchange for Russia giving up its partnership with Beijing. His deal would be extremely unpopular amongst European allies and U.S. foreign policy establishment.
Despite his lack of political experience and relatively low name recognition, Ramaswamy has done surprisingly well in the polls. He placed third in a Morning Consult Poll released this week, surpassing political bigwigs such as Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
