CNN town hall with Vivek Ramaswamy in Iowa

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy participates in a CNN Republican Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Abby Phillip at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.

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 the pushback from 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 abortion medication 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:

Vivek Ramaswamy took the stage on Wednesnday night in a CNN town hall in Iowa ahead of the state’s caucuses next month.

The Ohio entrepreneur showcased his efforts to appeal to a Donald Trump-aligned element of the GOP electorate just weeks before the January 15 Iowa caucuses kick off the party’s 2024 presidential nominating process.

See photos from the event:

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy participates in a CNN Republican Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Abby Phillip at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy shakes hands with audience members as he walks off stage during the town hall.

Picking up on a theme he emphasized at the fourth Republican presidential primary debate last week, Vivek Ramaswamy embraced a series of conspiracy theories.

Vivek Ramaswamy answers a question during the town hall.

CNN’s Abby Phillip pushes back on an answer from Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy during a CNN Republican Town Hall at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, December 13.

Vivek Ramaswamy meets audience members after the town hall in Iowa.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy participates in a CNN Republican Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Abby Phillip at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday.

Asked about the growth in income inequality in the US during Wednesday’s CNN town hall, GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said the American Dream is not alive and well right now. 

“Prices are going up. Interest rates, including mortgage rates to buy your home, are going up. But wages have remained flat,” he said. 

Facts First: While there are several government measures of wage growth, at least two main reports show that this is not true. Wage growth now outpaces inflation. 

In November, workers’ real average weekly earnings grew on an annual basis by 0.5%, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, which looks at inflation-adjusted earnings. That means that wage growth outpaced inflation. It turned positive in June for the first time in 26 months. 

Likewise, the bureau’s Employment Cost Index showed that inflation-adjusted wages and salaries for civilian workers increased 0.9% for the 12 months ending September 2023, the most recent data available. It also first turned positive in June. 

The quarterly index tracks changes in employers’ labor costs for wages and salaries but is not subject to the same distortions as other measures, such as average hourly earnings, because it keeps the composition of the workforce constant. 

Ramaswamy speaks during a CNN Republican Town Hall in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday.

To back up his false assertion that government agents entrapped Trump supporters on January 6, Ramaswamy pointed to the kidnapping case involving Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat. He repeatedly said three defendants were acquitted because they were entrapped. 

Facts First: As CNN’s Abby Phillip pointed out during the town hall, those numbers only tell part of the story. Nine other men charged in the plot were ultimately convicted. 

There were federal and state charges stemming from the kidnapping plot against a total of 14 defendants. According to past CNN reporting, nine were convicted either by pleading guilty or at trial, and five were acquitted. 

Testimony from the cases established that undercover FBI agents played a role in the plan, though that is a common tactic in investigations into criminal groups and gangs. Some of the defendants raised an entrapment defense at trial. 

There were indeed split verdicts, but more were convicted than acquitted. 

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy participates in a CNN Republican Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Abby Phillip at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday.

When asked about growing inequality between the richest Americans and the middle class during a CNN town hall on Wednesday, Vivek Ramaswamy claimed the Federal Reserve’s policies over the past two decades were to blame.

He implied that the Fed’s policies of keeping interest rates relatively low over a majority of that period disproportionately benefited the wealthy, saying the central bank has been “raining money from on high, like manna from heaven” and that “it’s really flowed down through the top 1%.” 

Facts First: This is misleading. While higher-income Americans may have stood to benefit from lower interest rates more than middle-class and lower-income Americans, the latter may also have been able to reap some benefits.  

For instance, when the Fed slashed interest rates to near-zero levels to stimulate the economy — after the pandemic brought a surge in unemployment — many Americans were able to refinance their mortgages and lock in record low rates.  

Watch Tom Foreman’s fact check here:

Video Ad Feedback

d9c49c65-27b7-4c67-9097-e2daa8587c0e.mp4

03:12 - Source: cnn

President Joe Biden’s campaign called Vivek Ramaswamy’s CNN town hall in Iowa an “exercise in bombastic rhetoric.”

Khanna also called the Republican party “an unserious party” and accused Ramaswamy of engaging “in sensationalism for clicks.”

Khanna serves on the Biden campaign’s advisory board.

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he is proposing giving some concessions to Russia in Ukraine to end the war and expressed confidence that President Vladimir Putin would accept his plan.

During the CNN town hall in Iowa, the tech entrepreneur said he is proposing a “reasonable end” to the war in Ukraine, emphasizing that it is his position that the war is not advancing American interests.

He said his deal would “allow Ukraine to come out with sovereignty intact,” but there would be “some territorial concessions of the Russian-speaking regions in eastern Ukraine.”

Ramaswamy also said his proposal would also include a commitment not to admit Ukraine to NATO — and would have the stipulation that Russia “exits its military alliance” with China.

Asked what makes him think Russian President Vladimir Putin would be responsive to this plan, Ramaswamy said, “So do I trust Vladimir Putin? Of course not. Is he a craven dictator? Absolutely, he is. But we will trust him to follow his self interest just as he will trust us to follow ours.”

Pressed that if Putin still does not agree to the territorial concessions in the east as Ramaswamy laid out and decided to take the entire country using force, the GOP candidate asserted that he is confident in his ability to negotiate.

“I think that’s a fictitious scenario for a lot of reasons. Part of the reason Putin has been able to seize eastern Ukraine is they have not had the same level of resistance as the rest of Ukraine,” Ramaswamy said, doubling down that people who live in some eastern parts of the country “don’t even view themselves really as part of Ukraine.”

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy participates in a CNN Republican Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Abby Phillip at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday.

Vivek Ramaswamy reiterated his claim during a CNN town hall Wednesday that January 6 was an instance of “government entrapment,” offering as evidence that “we know there were federal law enforcement agents in that field.” 

Facts First: FBI Director Christopher Wray, a lifelong Republican appointed by Trump, has repeatedly rejected claims that federal law enforcement agents were in any way responsible for the violence that unfolded at the Capitol on January 6.  

In July, Wray told Congress: “This notion that somehow the violence at the Capitol on January 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and agents is ludicrous and is a disservice to our brave, hardworking, dedicated men and women.” 

And just last month, Wray was once again asked about alleged federal involvement in January 6 and pushed back strongly saying, “If you are asking whether the violence at the Capitol on January 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and/or agents, the answer is emphatically not. No. It was not violence orchestrated by FBI sources or agents.” 

However, Wray has resisted attempts by GOP lawmakers to provide an exact number when asked how many government agents were in the crowd on January 6, if any. 

The conspiracy theory that the FBI orchestrated the attack emerged in summer 2021 in a series of articles and TV segments from pro-Trump news outlets. The false and self-serving narrative claims the US government sent undercover FBI agents to trigger the violence so they could frame Trump supporters and make Trump look bad. 

The supposed evidence backing up the theory is nothing more than a conspiratorial web of unproven claims, half-truths and inaccurate drivel from Trump supporters who have aggressively tried to absolve him of responsibility for the deadly assault that day. 

About 850 rioters have been convicted of crimes stemming from January 6, according to the Justice Department. Most of them pleaded guilty, and many acknowledged that they were at the Capitol because they supported Trump. 

Ramaswamy has a history of peddling disinformation about January 6, including at last week’s GOP debate, where he called the insurrection an “inside job.” You can read CNN’s previous fact check of that here.  

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy participates in a CNN Republican Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Abby Phillip at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he aligns some core principles of his Hindu religion with the “Judeo-Christian values” shared by many Iowa voters, but acknowledged he would not be “the best president to spread Christianity.”

When asked by an audience member his response to those who believe he “cannot be our president” because his religion “is not what our founding fathers based our country on,” Ramaswamy said he “respectfully disagrees.”

He laid out why he believes his upbringing in Hinduism aligns with the core tenants of Christianity, while also highlighting his connection to Christianity through his education at St. Xavier — a Catholic high school in Cincinnati.

Ramaswamy conceded that as a practicing Hindu, he would not be “the best president to spread Christianity throughout the country,” but said his own relationship to faith and his commitment to upholding the First Amendment protection for freedom of religion would be a focus of his presidency.

“I think it’s my responsibility to make faith and patriotism and family and hard work, cool again in this country, I think they’re pretty cool and I think that’s my job as your next president,” he added.

Ramaswamy has sought to ease potential concerns of voters who have doubts about his religious background, making particular effort to share details of his faith at recent campaign events in Iowa, where a significant constituency of Republican voters are Evangelical Christians. He often evokes anecdotes from the Bible, as he did at the town hall Wednesday.

“We don’t choose who God works through. God chooses who God works through. So we get to the Old Testament, a little bit further along, we get to the Book of Isaiah. I don’t know if many of you are familiar with that one. God chose Cyrus, a gentile all the way in Persia, to lead the Jewish people back to the promised land,” Ramaswamy said.

“And so yes, I believe God put us here for a purpose. My faith is what leads me on this journey to run for president,” he said.

Ramaswamy speaks during a CNN Republican Town Hall in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday.

During Wednesday night’s CNN town hall, Vivek Ramaswamy doubled down on his previous comments that the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol was an “inside job,” adding that there is evidence of police “rolling out the red carpet” for rioters and inviting them in. 

Facts First: Ramaswamy’s claim that the rioters were invited into the Capitol is false. About 140 police officers were assaulted while trying to stop the mob from breaching the Capitol. There were hours-long battles between police and rioters near some entrances. CNN obtained footage from police body-worn cameras showing how dozens of officers engaged in hand-to-hand combat with rioters in a desperate effort to keep them out of the building. 

There are plenty of instances where rioters waltzed into the Capitol without a fight, but only after they had stormed past barricades and, in some cases, even stepped through broken windows. In some areas, police were so outnumbered by the mob that they retreated, stood aside or tried to politely engage with rioters to de-escalate the situation rather than fighting or making arrests, but that is clearly not the same as welcoming rioters into the building. 

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy participates in a CNN Republican Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Abby Phillip at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, December 13.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he heard about the phrase “Iowa nice,” but while campaigning he learned that Iowans appreciate candor and hard work — a value that he believes can “revive this country.”

He then recounted a moment he had while running a Des Moines Turkey Trot in Iowa over Thanksgiving with a woman wished him luck and then asked him if he knew how to spell it — and they spelled W-O-R-K — which resurfaced memories of his upbringing.

“I said, you know, that sounds like something my parents taught me when I was little. I think that that’s also something that I found amongst Iowans — is they value people that work hard because many of you do work hard,” he said.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy participates in a CNN Republican Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Abby Phillip at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, December 13.

Asked if he believes the Supreme Court should limit the distribution of a widely used abortion drug — even in states where the procedure is still allowed — Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he agrees the court should rule on the power of the Food and Drug Administration.

The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will consider a case that concerns restricting access to the drug mifepristone. When coupled with another drug, it is one of the most common abortion methods in the United States.

The Biden administration and a manufacturer of the drug are asking the justices to reverse a federal appeals court decision that, if allowed to go into effect, would restrict access to the drug. At the same time, groups and doctors that oppose abortion want the justices to go even further than a conservative federal appeals court did and hold that the initial 2000 approval of the drug was also unlawful.

Pressed by CNN’s Abby Phillip on if the court should ban mifepristone, Ramaswamy said it should “put the FDA back in its place” and the Supreme Court should rule on the law that approved the drug in the first place.

Asked to clarify if that meant the drug would be banned nationwide as a result, Ramaswamy said, “I believe it will result in mifepristone being taken off the market until they go through the process that’s ordained for every other drug that doesn’t go through emergency approval.”

Some context: Mifepristone was initially approved by the FDA in 2000, but in 2016, 2019 and 2021, the FDA put in place modifications that would make the drug more easily accessible. Those modifications were related to issues such as dosing and in-person dispensing requirements. The changes also allowed the drug to be taken later in pregnancy.

Challengers – including doctors and groups who oppose abortion — argue that the FDA did not do enough to study the safety implications of the drug when it approved its use and made it more easily accessible in subsequent years.

CNN’s Abby Phillip pushes back on an answer from Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy during a CNN Republican Town Hall at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, December 13.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy maintained his previous conspiracy theories about the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, that it was an “inside job” when pressed repeatedly by CNN moderator Abby Phillip about the falsehoods.

When asked by Phillip if Ramaswamy was concerned that a convicted Capitol rioter highlighted his comments during sentencing, Ramaswamy began to double down on his assessment.

“The reality is, we know that there were federal law enforcement agents in that field. We don’t know how many,” he said before Phillip tried to jump in to follow up.

But as Phillip spoke, Ramaswamy also interjected, saying that her interruption is because “the establishment doesn’t approve of this message.”

Ramaswamy said “this is important to talk about,” to which the crowd applauded.

“You were saying there were federal agents in the crowd on January 6. There’s no evidence that there were federal agents in the crowd,” Phillip said.

But Ramaswamy doubled down on his assertion, saying that he’s seen “multiple informants suggesting that they were.”

More context: This is one of the most pernicious right-wing falsehoods about the January 6 insurrection. It’s false, unsupported by any real evidence, and has been repeatedly rejected by FBI Director Christopher Wray, a lifelong Republican appointed by then-President Donald Trump.  

This particular conspiracy theory emerged in summer 2021 in a series of articles and TV segments from pro-Trump news outlets. The false and self-serving narrative claims the US government orchestrated the US Capitol attack, sending undercover FBI agents to trigger the violence, so they could frame Trump supporters and make Trump look bad.  

The supposed evidence backing up the theory is nothing more than a conspiratorial web of unproven claims, half-truths and inaccurate drivel from Trump supporters who have aggressively tried to absolve him of responsibility for the deadly assault that day.  

“If you are asking whether the violence at the Capitol on January 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and/or agents, the answer is emphatically not. No. It was not violence orchestrated by FBI sources or agents,” Wray said last month.  

About 850 rioters have been convicted of crimes stemming from January 6, according to the Justice Department. Most of them pleaded guilty, and many acknowledged that they were at the Capitol because they supported Trump.  

Ramaswamy has a history of peddling disinformation about January 6. At a campaign event last week in Iowa, he falsely claimed “the cops were just letting them in,” referring to the rioters. Here’s a previous CNN fact check from January 2022 on this specific lie.  

CNN’s Marshall Cohen contributed reporting to this post.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy participates in a CNN Republican Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Abby Phillip at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said as president, he would hold himself to a standard that would be worthy of being a role model.

“I want us to be able to look our kids in the eye and tell them that ‘I want you to grow up and be like him.’ It’s been a long time since we held our presidents to that standard,” he said during CNN’s town hall in Iowa, adding that is the standard he wants voters to hold him to.

The answer came in response to a question from Rylee Miller, an undecided Republican voter who is a law student and clerk at the Marion County Attorney’s Office in Iowa. He asked Ramaswamy how he would balance his authenticity with acting presidential.

He said it is all about protecting his “inner kindness” and that he would lead with strength. Speaking to the voter’s concern about his conduct on the debate stage, Ramaswamy said he didn’t “engage in four-letter words.”

“There are other candidates who have called me dumb, scum and worse,” he said. “I didn’t go after them. But If they’re going to come after me, I’m not going to be a president — whether it’s Xi Jinping or Vladimir Putin or anybody — that I will roll over.”

Still, the GOP candidate said that his faith teaches him that there is also a “time and place for fortitude and justice and mercy.” It will take all of those attributes, and strength, to be a good president.

Ramaswamy answers a question during the town hall on Wednesday in Iowa.

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he would put the Federal Reserve “back in its place” and stabilize the US dollar to address the wage gap issue in the country.

He then went on to say that he would implement a single mandate for the Federal Reserve: “Dollar stability. Peg the dollar to commodities. That ties the hands of our government. That’s a good thing,” he said.

More context: The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it is holding its interest rate steady and could cut rates at least three times next year. Wall Street celebrated the end of almost two years of aggressive rate hikes.

Ramaswamy speaks during a CNN Republican Town Hall in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said he would send undocumented migrants back to their countries of origin if elected president.

“Not because they’re all bad people. In fact, many of them are good people. Many of them, if we are being honest, if we were in their shoes, and there’s a president of the United States who’ve been giving them a wink and nod to come on over, if we were in a tough spot, maybe we would’ve done the same thing. This is not a value judgment about those people. It’s a value judgment about this country,” he added. “We are founded on a rule of law,” he said.

Ramaswamy said later on in the town hall he would end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants as president but conceded that he would not revoke the citizenship of American-born children whose parents immigrated illegally.

Ramaswamy told CNN’s Abby Phillip he plans to end “the illegal incentives” for people to enter the US illegally, arguing the clause in the 14th Amendment that grants citizenship to all persons “born or naturalized in the United States” should not apply to the children of undocumented immigrants.

“I want to implement, I would say the best border policies of all, which is ending the illegal incentives to be here. End birthright citizenship for the kids of illegal migrants to whom the 14th Amendment does not apply,” Ramaswamy said.

When pressed by Phillip if his proposal to end birthright citizenship would apply retroactively to Americans whose parents immigrated illegally and were born in the United States, Ramaswamy said the policy would apply “prospectively,” grandfathering in the American children of undocumented immigrants starting “January 20th, 2025 going forward.”

“There is a concept in the law known as a reliance interest. If you’ve relied on the government, we’re not going to be able to retroactively date that. But from January 20 2025 going forward, if you’re born in this country as the kid of an illegal immigrant, you will not enjoy birthright citizenship and that’s what the 14th Amendment says,” Ramaswamy said.

Ramaswamy also said that he expected his proposals would be challenged in the courts, eventually ending up before the Supreme Court.

Samona Yentes and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said his party has not done a good job reaching younger voters, as one of the youngest candidates in the race.

Samona Yentes, a self-employed Iowa who is an undecided Republican voter, asked Ramaswamy what makes him different from former President Donald Trump, other than his age.

“I think we are reaching a new generation of voters in this country,” he said, touting his visits to colleges, but not directly answering Yentes’ question.

Ramaswamy said the country needs an outsider to get things done.

“It’s going to take a president who comes from the outside, a businessman,” Ramaswamy said. “It’s also going to take a president who has a deep first personal understanding of the law and the constitution.”

CNN moderator Abby Phillip pressed Ramaswamy on how he is specifically looking to differentiate himself from Trump. 

The tech entrepreneur said he is the only candidate in this field who has taken a “clear stand” in being against using eminent domain “to seize foreign land to build a carbon capture pipeline using federal subsidies.”

More context: Generally, the government is allowed to acquire privately owned land for public use, otherwise known as eminent domain. Border barriers built under previous administrations have largely gone up in areas where land was federally owned, but extending the wall, as former President Donald Trump pledged to, required taking privately owned land. Under the Trump administration, officials moved at a faster rate to obtain land.

“Carbon capture” is often used as catch-all term for what are actually two sets of technologies – carbon capture and carbon removal. Carbon capture reduces the amount of carbon pollution that would otherwise go into the atmosphere by catching it at the source of pollution, then storing it or reusing it.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy participates in a CNN Republican Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Abby Phillip at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.

Vivek Ramaswamy is fielding questions in Iowa tonight during a CNN town hall — less than five weeks before the state’s January 15 caucuses kick off the 2024 Republican presidential nominating contest.

The 38-year-old tech entrepreneur launched his outsider campaign in February, which has focused on combatting “woke” ideology, exposing government corruption and ushering in a younger generation into the GOP. His campaign, however, has so far struggled to gain traction and break out in the thinning GOP primary.

Months ago, Ramaswamy was gaining traction in the polls. Now, the Ohio entrepreneur is still stuck in the single digits in a thinning GOP primary pack.

Former President Donald Trump — whom Ramaswamy has defended and praised repeatedly — remains the front-runner for the GOP nomination. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley are competing to be seen as the main Trump alternative in a field that has grown smaller with the recent exits of former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

The town hall will stream live on CNN Max and for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN-connected TV and mobile apps. It will also be available on demand beginning Thursday to pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN apps and Cable Operator Platforms.

Vivek Ramaswamy, right, speaks with CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash, left, in the Spin Room after the Republican presidential primary debate hosted by NewsNation on Wednesday, December 6, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is set to field questions from Iowa voters Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET at a CNN town hall, less than five weeks before the state’s January 15 caucuses kick off the 2024 Republican presidential nominating contest.

The town hall will stream live on CNN Max and for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN connected TV and mobile apps. It will also be available on demand beginning Thursday to pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN apps and Cable Operator Platforms.

Here are five things to watch:

Differences with Haley: Among the most memorable exchanges at the four Republican presidential primary debates so far this year have been those between Ramaswamy and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. On and off stage, their clashes have taken personal turns. Haley in recent weeks has risen in polls, challenging Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ status as the second-place contender in Iowa and emerging as the party’s top-polling alternative to Trump in GOP primary surveys in New Hampshire and South Carolina, her home state. Even if Ramaswamy doesn’t climb in the polls himself, his criticism has the potential to shape the GOP race.

No one to brawl with: To date, Ramaswamy might be best known to voters for his sharp-elbowed, stage-dominating debate performances. He has relished picking fights with rivals such as Haley, Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence and others. If he is going to jump out of the single digits in national and early-state polls of likely Republican primary voters, he’ll need to create memorable moments of his own, outside of the context of playing the foil in debates.

“Double Grassley”: Ramaswamy has focused on Iowa throughout his campaign. As part of that strategy, Ramaswamy announced his intention to have visited every Iowa county twice before the caucuses on January 15. Earlier this month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis completed his goal of visiting all 99 Iowa counties – a feat dubbed the “Full Grassley” after Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who visits all counties in the state every year. Ramaswamy also pledged earlier this month to host more than 200 events in the state before the caucuses, a massive undertaking that speaks to how critical success in Iowa is to Ramaswamy’s potential path to the nomination.

Conspiracy theories: At the Alabama debate, Ramaswamy said the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol “looks like it was an inside job.” After the debate, he told CNN, “I do think we have a government that’s consistently lied to its people.” Over the weekend, he embraced another fringe theory, telling a crowd in Sioux Center, Iowa, that the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was an inside job. Ramaswamy’s embrace of conspiracy theories could win him support from a share of the GOP base — many of the same pro-Trump voters who have parroted the former president’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen. But it could also alienate the broader general electorate. It’s likely to be a topic he addresses Wednesday night.

Questions of faith: Ramaswamy could also use Wednesday’s town hall to address his religion in a bid to assuage Iowa’s substantial evangelical Christian constituency that he, a Hindu, shares their values. He often cites his education at a Catholic high school in Cincinnati to substantiate his connection to Christian values. “When I read the Ten Commandments for the first time … it didn’t feel like I was reading those values for the first time,” he said last month in Ida Grove, Iowa. “And that’s when it hit me: Those values don’t belong to Hindus. Those values don’t belong to Christians. Those values belong to God, actually, and those are the values that this nation was absolutely founded on.”

Nikki Haley looks on as Vivek Ramaswamy passes by during a break at the fourth Republican candidates' presidential debate at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on December 6.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy clashed throughout the fourth Republican primary debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama earlier this month, reigniting one of the most contentious feuds of the primary cycle thus far, which was punctuated by Ramaswamy’s accusation that Haley was “corrupt.”

Ramaswamy attacked Haley in the opening minutes of the debate, criticizing her for accepting donations from wealthy donors, including some who have supported President Joe Biden, and for her support of the US providing aid to Ukraine.

Haley responded to attacks of her growing support from wealthy donors by dismissing Ramaswamy as “just jealous” and said she doesn’t change her positions to appease donors.

Haley and Ramaswamy have traded barbs at each of the previous three debates, with each exchange heightening the tension between the two. The source of their disagreements typically focuses on foreign policy issues, but as the two continue to clash, their attacks have become increasingly personal. The substance and tone of those moments at the fourth debate appeared to build on the history of confrontation between them, as both candidates leaned into personal attacks.

Ramaswamy reiterated his attacks on Haley’s ties to donors throughout the debate, culminating in him holding up a handwritten sign on his notepad that read “Nikki = Corrupt” as he defended himself from claims that his attacks against her were sexist.

“After the third debate, when I criticized Ronna McDaniel after five failed years of leadership of this party and criticized Nikki for her corrupt foreign dealings as a military contractor, she said that I have a woman problem. Nikki, I don’t have a woman problem. You have a corruption problem. And I think that that’s what people need to know. Nikki is corrupt,” he said, emphasizing his argument by holding up the sign, which he had written in large font on his notepad, for the audience to see.

When asked if she would like to respond to Ramaswamy’s blunt attack, Haley dismissively declined.

“No, it’s not worth my time to respond to him,” she said.

Read more about their clashes here.