Donald Trump said a month ago that former presidential contender Ramaswamy was on his vice-presidential shortlist, but Trump has reportedly told the entrepreneur that he won’t be the running mate. Ramaswamy is instead being considered for a cabinet post, Bloomberg reported Monday.
Ramaswamy is being honored by Trump pardonee and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn at a “soiree and movie screening” fundraiser for Flynn’s group America’s Future being held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club March 28. “Vivek’s demonstrated courage in the fight to protect our God-given rights and the principles upon which our great nation was founded are exceptional,” reads an invitation email from Flynn. “His unrelenting work supporting America First is exemplary and he has set the standard for future leaders with his ‘American Truth Pledge.’”
After Trump refused to accept his loss in the 2020 election, Flynn promoted calls for Trump to invoke martial law. Trump has talked about bringing Flynn back into government if he wins; Flynn recently said he would agree if he is given the power to “do the things that I know that need to be done.” In a recent interview with right-wing activist Benny Johnson, Flynn praised Ramaswamy’s call to shut down the FBI. Flynn also denounced people he called “deeply embedded bureaucratic ticks in the system of government,” adding, “I know how to get to them.”
Flynn currently acts as a bridge between MAGA insiders—including Trump and his children—and far-right Christian nationalists and conspiracy theorists who make up the ReAwaken America traveling road show. That role is also evident in the host committee for the event honoring Ramaswamy, which includes Pizzagate and QAnon conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin. Also included on the host committee is Boone Cutler, co-author with Flynn of “The Citizen’s Guide to Fifth Generation Warfare”; conservative Hollywood couple Sam and Kevin Sorbo; and right-wing podcaster Keith Rose. Many of the host committee members appear in “Into the Light,” one of the movies by filmmaker Mike Smith that will be screened at the event, along with his “Out of Shadows.”
Ramaswamy and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem were the top picks in the vice-presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February. Speaking just before Steve Bannon closed out the conference, Ramaswamy echoed Project 2025’s plans for a purge of the civil service. Ramaswamy vowed that “we” are going to “finally tame that bureaucracy, shut down that deep state” and “get in there and fire 75 percent of federal bureaucrats.”
At CPAC, Ramaswamy showed no awareness of the contradictions involved in his promoting Trump’s return to power while insisting on the importance of fighting for truth and the rule of law. He invoked the revolutionary war: “You don't get to just inherit the blessings of liberty, you have to fight for it,” he said. “Every generation has learned that time and again, this is our 1776 moment right now.” And he declared, “We are in the middle of a war in this country,” adding:
It's not a war between black and white, as the media would have you believe. It's not even a war between Democrat or Republican or man or woman or whatever. It is a war between those of us who love the United States of America, and our founding ideals, and a fringe minority who hates this country, and what we actually stand for. And right now, more than ever, we need a commander in chief who is going to lead us to victory in that war. And that man is Donald J. Trump, the next 47th President of the United States of America.
The invitation to the Mar-a-Lago event honoring Ramaswamy informs donors that America’s Future is a 501(c)(3) group and that contributions are therefore tax deductible. A recent Issue One article on America’s Future reported that “America’s Future paid members of the Flynn family more than $510,000 combined in 2021 and 2022”—including $60,000 in 2022 for a reported average of two hours per week. More from that report:
In 2021, America’s Future contributed nearly $1 million to the Cyber Ninjas, a company hired by pro-Trump Republicans in the Arizona Senate that conducted a partisan review of Maricopa County’s election results after the 2020 election.
Additionally, it has contributed funds to other groups that push election-related lies, including:
- $125,000 to the Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund, including $90,000 in 2022, a nonprofit that runs a project called “Expose the Steal” that aims to reveal purported “deep corruption in counting the vote” in the United States.
- $25,000 in 2022 to The Hollow, a venue in Venice, Florida, that has become a meeting place for right-wing activists, including hosting events that have featured Michael Flynn and members of the Proud Boys militia.
- $20,000 in 2021 to Americans for Limited Government, a nonprofit that has falsely claimed that China interfered with the 2020 election and said, the day after the January 6th insurrection, that President Donald Trump was “right not to concede.”
- $10,000 in 2021 to Moms for America, a nonprofit that helped organize the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, DC, on January 5, 2021, the day before rioters overran the Capitol.
- $10,000 in 2022 to the Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit based in Orlando, Florida, that engages in litigation to advance evangelical Christian values, has peddled lies related to the 2020 presidential election, and has supported in court some of the individuals involved in the January 6th insurrection, including one who allegedly attacked a police officer and another who allegedly threatened to hang the Capitol Police officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt during the attack on the Capitol.
