Former President Donald Trump is considering former biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy as his pick for vice president.
At least that’s how the media is interpreting Trump’s recent comments to right-wing talk show host Glenn Beck about the upstart MAGA candidate. But if you consider Trump’s comments another way, his praise for Ramaswamy’s “talent” functions as a way to disarm his opposition and incentivize an obedient pack of 2024 challengers.
Trump’s approval also doubles as a signal to the other candidates in the race that flattery could be the best way to angle for a plum job in his administration.
Beck asked Trump on Tuesday what he thought of the idea of “Vice President Ramaswamy.”
“Well, I think he’s great. Look, anybody that says I’m the best president in a generation … I have to like a guy like that, I can’t get upset with him,” Trump said in response. “But he’s a smart guy. He’s a young guy. He’s got a lot of talent. He’s a very, very intelligent person. He’s got good energy. He could be some form of something, I tell ya. I think he’d be very good. I think he’s very good, I think he’s really distinguished himself.”
“He’s starting to get out there a little bit, he’s getting a little bit controversial, I got to tell him: ‘Be a little bit careful. Some things you have to hold in just a little bit, right?’” Trump added.
Three elements stand out from Trump’s statement.
First: It’s vague and noncommittal — the closest he gets to the idea of taking on Ramaswamy is that he “could be some form of something.” That language is broad enough that it could mean that Trump’s open to putting Ramaswamy somewhere in his administration, but that could be anywhere from a Cabinet position, an advisory role, to an obscure bureaucratic gig.
Second: When discussing his approval of Ramaswamy, Trump conditions it on Ramaswamy’s fawning behavior and his mimicry of his ideas. Ramaswamy caters to Trump’s thirst for approbation and flattery, so it’s possible that that behavior makes Trump take him seriously as a potential recruit. But Trump’s approval also doubles as a signal to the other candidates in the race that flattery could be the best way to angle for a plum job in his administration.
Not so incidentally, if all the other candidates try to stay on his good side, that will help Trump retain his dominant position in the primaries. Trump can neutralize his challengers by dangling the possibility of hiring them if they remain meek — but without ever committing to anything.








