UPDATE: The Grinnell Police Department issued a statement Thursday night saying it has found “no evidence” linking the car that rammed Ramaswamy’s vehicle to protests outside his campaign event. In response, Ramaswamy’s campaign released a video of the people they accuse of perpetrating the collision — flipping off the candidate and shouting obscenities — before the alleged “reverse-ramming.” Ramaswamy responded to the police on social media:
Suppose a guy wearing a MAGA hat is standing amongst protestors at a Democrat presidential candidate’s event, then gets into his car with aggressive bumper stickers, flips off the candidate & screams profanities, lays on his horn, and then reverse-rams the candidate’s parked SUV. I’m sure they’d be just as eager to call it an unrelated accident, right?
The original story continues below.
Two protesters rammed into 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s car while he was not in the vehicle during his visit to Iowa on Thursday.
News of the crash broke from Daily Mail reporter Katelyn Caralle, who said on X that nobody sustained injuries and that the presidential candidate was actually not in the car at the time.
“Two protesters, aged 22 and 26, rammed their vehicle into [Ramaswamy’s] car as he visited Saints Rest Coffee House in Grinnell, Iowa on Thursday. The 2024 presidential hopeful is not hurt and was not in the car at the time of the incident,” said Caralle.
“The estimated cost of repair is $600 to each vehicle,” she added.
Ramaswamy later said on X that he had a discussion with the protesters before the ramming happened.
“Had a civil exchange with protestors today, right before two of them then got into their car & rammed it into ours. Those two should be held accountable, but the rest of the peaceful protestors shouldn’t be tarred by the behavior of two bad actors,” he said.
As Breitbart News reported in 2022 ahead of the midterm election, political violence against Republican candidates and staffers saw an uptick.
“Violence against candidates and volunteers is evidence of a greater political tension,” Breitbart News noted. “Other politically-motivated acts of violence have been committed against Republican voters themselves. For instance, on September 18, a 41-year-old man admitted to killing an 18-year-old kid with his car after a heated debate during which the man decided that the teenager was part of a ‘Republican extremist group.'”
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.