Exclusive – Vivek Ramaswamy Rips ‘Small Stick Ron DeSantis’ over Responses to Trump Indictment: ‘Shameful’

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire – Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy torched Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) while speaking exclusively with Breitbart News on Friday, calling him “a sheep in wolf’s clothing” who had a “fundamentally uncourageous” response to the news of former President Donald Trump’s then-impending indictment.

Ramaswamy, who strongly condemned Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case once Trump announced he expected to be arrested, sat down with Breitbart News on his bus in Manchester amid a ten-county tour of the Granite State Friday morning – before a quick pit stop in Indianapolis to speak at the National Rifle Association’s Annual Meeting.

When asked what he thought of GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s and DeSantis’s takes on Trump’s indictment and arrest, Ramaswamy did not hold back in his criticism, calling their responses “fundamentally uncourageous.”

“I think we need courage in the White House,” Ramaswamy said. “We live in a moment of fear in America. We can’t put a commander in chief in charge who is themselves fearful. I think that describes Ron DeSantis. I think it describes Nikki Haley. I think it describes, really, most career politicians. They go to their donor class where their milk is, well it’s really their mother’s milk, and ask them for permission to say the things that they need to say.”

After Trump announced he expected to be arrested last month, DeSantis took shots at Manhattan County District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office is heading up the 34-count prosecution of Trump for alleged falsification of business records. However, DeSantis expressed that he had “no interest in getting involved in some type of manufactured circus by some Soros DA,” adding he has “to spend [his] time on issues that actually matter to people.” Once the indictment occurred, he said Florida would not assist in an extradition request and called the indictment “un-American.”

Ramaswamy further zoned in on DeSantis, blasting him as someone who is incapable of “thinking for himself” and accused the governor of stealing his political positions from both his own New York Times bestseller Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam as well as his comments on the campaign trail.

“Ron DeSantis talks a big game after he’s vetted it through his political consultants, but he’s not an original thinker. He’s not somebody who’s capable of thinking for himself, Ramaswamy said. “It’s part of the reason why his entire campaign strategy involves taking Woke Inc and effectively running it through his teleprompter. That’s Ron DeSantis on a given day. We can give you kind of countless examples. Literally, it’s a three-to-six-week delay by the time I say something – he’ll make Joe Biden’s plagiarism look like child’s play.”

However, Ramaswamy said he did not “take personal offense to” the perceived plagiarism but said DeSantis is a “foot soldier,” who he says are needed in his vision for the revival of national identity, but not in the Oval Office.

“I think it’s fine for if you’re governor, to be honest with you. I, in fact, I’m happy. I’m happy if he governs that way… in the state of Florida,” he said. “I think that we need a lot of foot soldiers in this cultural revival in our country. He’s one of them. But we can’t have a follower in the White House. We need a leader. And I think a leader acts and speaks based on his own convictions. And his silence, and then dancing around it with a very scripted statement after the politicized persecution of a former president of the United States, even if he’s your political rival, that was shameful.”

He also ripped DeSantis for his “defeaning silence” regarding “the bailout of Silicon Valley Bank depositors,” alleging he was quiet on the matter because “many of his big donors were themselves the beneficiary of that bailout.”

“Ron DeSantis is a puppet for the donor class in the Republican Party. He is a puppet for the Republican establishment,” he said. “He’s really a, I would say the usual expression goes as a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing,’ He’s a sheep in wolf’s clothing.”

He then coined the nickname “Small Stick Ron DeSantis” while invoking a famous quote from 26th President Teddy Roosevelt.

“Teddy Roosevelt said, ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick.’ Ron DeSantis speaks loudly, but he carries a small stick,” Ramaswamy said. “‘Small Stick Ron DeSantis,’ I think that’s actually a summary of the uncourageous attitude he brings to the table.”