A MAGA civil war started by Donald Trump’s government efficiency advisor Vivek Ramaswamy declaring war on American culture has a simple explanation, according to CNN’s resident Republican: bullying.
In a post on social media platform X analyzing why “top tech companies hire foreign-born and first-generation engineers over ‘native’ Americans,” Ramaswamy argued that “American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long,” celebrating jocks and prom queens over the valedictorians and math Olympiads.
His missive predictably sent the MAGA-verse into meltdown mode. The pile-on continued Thursday night–prompting conservative strategist and CNN pundit Scott Jennings to weigh in that it was really all projection from Ramaswamy’s childhood.
“Someone got stuffed in a locker. I’m not going to say who,” he said on CNN’s News Night with Abby Phillip, eliciting laughs from the other panelists.
Turning serious, Jennings continued, “Look, I think there’s a way to talk about this that doesn’t denigrate all of American culture.”
But he couldn’t resist another dig.
“I’m now understanding more and more how he got 100 votes in Iowa or whatever it was he got during the Iowa caucus,” he added.
Ramaswamy, 39, had originally challenged Trump in the Republican primaries, gaining outsized media attention for his outlandish theories but only managing to secure single-digit electoral support in Iowa. He ended his campaign and endorsed Trump after placing fourth there.
Ramaswamy’s post at the very least echoed elements of his own biography. He was the valedictorian of his elite Jesuit high school, St. Xavier in Cincinnati, Ohio; is the son of Indian-born immigrants who, he has pointed out, entered legally on work visas; and appears to have named a series of shows from his ’90s childhood. His high school, however, was all-boys, so did not have a prom queen.
His prom-and-jock bashing came amid a debate on whether the U.S. should continue approving H-1B visas for highly skilled workers.
“I think we can bring in the top talent around the world and at the same time not insult the rest of the United States of America and our culture and the way we do things here, and also lift up the American students who have the talent, who have the interest, and put them in the right educational opportunities,” Jennings said.
