Vivek Ramaswamy Is Buying TV Ads in Iowa After Calling Ads ‘Idiotic’

Welp, I guess that's one way to tell voters you stand for absolutely nothing.

By Kylie Cheung | January 10, 2024 | 8:10pm

Vivek Ramaswamy Is Buying TV Ads in Iowa After Calling Ads ‘Idiotic’

Flip-flopping is to be expected in the hellscape that is American politics, but it’s rarely this embarrassing: After previously calling TV ad spending “idiotic,” Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy reportedly resumed buying TV ads in Iowa this week. This comes less than a month??? after pulling his ad buys at the end of December and calling TV ad spending “low-ROI & a trick that political consultants use to bamboozle candidates who suffer from low IQ.” It’s the electoral equivalent of Selena Gomez proclaiming that social media is toxic and she’s doing a cleanse, only to pop up in someone’s comment section hours later.

In December Ramaswamy also went on Fox News to point to his discontinued TV ad spending as proof of his sharp business acumen: “I’m running this campaign in the same way that I would run a company, with an actual IQ and an actual brain, not taken for a ride by political consultants,” he said. “And I think that’s going to lead us to, ultimately, success here.” Well, he’s certainly running his campaign like a company in that most CEOs also have no idea what they’re doing, do whatever they want, and fuck up royally.

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NBC now reports that Ramaswamy’s campaign has confirmed that his TV ads will resume airing in Iowa on Wednesday—which happens to be the day of the last Republican presidential debate before the Iowa caucus on January 15. Only three candidates—former President Trump, Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis—qualified for Wednesday’s debate, so I guess Ramaswamy will be watching his ads from home!

In any case, I have to laugh at Ramswamy’s campaigns’ meek little response to his exposed flip-flopping: The campaign is “following the data and having some fun,” a spokesperson told NBC. Welp, I suppose this is one way to assure voters that you stand for absolutely nothing.

His campaign has reportedly reserved just $22,500 worth of TV ad time in the next week leading up to the caucus. Meanwhile, a PAC for Haley has booked $2.4 million in TV ad buys in Iowa from Jan. 9 through the 15th, compared with over $1.4 million booked by pro-DeSantis PACs. At least one of Ramaswamy’s ads features proud white nationalist and former Iowa Congressman, Steve King, endorsing Ramaswamy. I wish I could call the endorsement useless. But I’m sure it will help him court the white nationalist base that’s naturally more hostile to him as a nonwhite person.

Yet, all the white nationalists in Iowa can’t dig him out of the polling hole he’s in. (Nor can his attempts to lure Iowa frat bros with “free beer.”) The latest polls out of Iowa show him nearly 10% under Haley and DeSantis, who are neck-and-neck at about 17%. Trump leads them all at about 52%. But at least his campaign is “having some fun” I guess.