Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told a crowd of Iowa voters in a CNN town hall Wednesday night that the federal government has “lied systematically” to Americans.
The Ohio entrepreneur’s parroting of a series of far-right conspiracy theories — and his pushback against CNN moderator Abby Phillip — showcased his efforts to appeal to a Donald Trump-aligned, conspiracy-minded element of the GOP electorate just weeks before the January 15 Iowa caucuses kick off the party’s 2024 presidential nominating process.
In the town hall at Grand View University in Des Moines, Ramaswamy turned a question about medication abortion into a critique of the federal bureaucracy. He also staked out conservative positions on immigration enforcement and railed against affirmative action efforts.
Here are takeaways from the town hall:
Picking up on a theme he emphasized at the fourth Republican presidential primary debate last week, Ramaswamy embraced a series of conspiracy theories.
He cherry-picked pieces of information to suggest federal law enforcement agents fueled the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol, portraying the attack as “entrapment.” FBI Director Christopher Wray earlier this year said such suggestions were “ludicrous.”
He made similar claims about the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, pointing to the acquittal of several of the 14 people charged in that plot — and ignoring the fact that that nine were convicted.
His claims led to an animated exchange with Phillip that stood in stark contrast to Ramaswamy’s comparatively staid demeanor over the rest of the hourlong town hall.
Ramaswamy said he would have dismissed such conspiracy theories as “fringe” and “nonsense” three years ago. However, he said he now believes the federal government has “lied to…
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