Vivek Ramaswamy Has Entered the Republican Fake Grievance Game

It’s no secret that Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has many upsetting views about public education, transgender rights, and more. Ramaswamy was campaigning in Des Moines, Iowa, where he exchanged a few words with some protestors. In a video recording of the incident, he commended them for peacefully protesting. But in a later tweet, Ramaswamy claimed that the two protestors present in the video “rammed” a car into his campaign vehicle moments after having a civil exchange with them. His spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, corroborated this narrative. She added that, upon sustaining damage, the protestors were “laying on their horn, and screaming profanities.”

These claims couldn’t be further from the truth, and Grinnell Police denied Ramaswamy’s version of events. Ramaswamy and his campaign claimed that a couple of protestors hit his campaign car and then sped away. But police reported that the driver was not protesting, and was simply backing out of her parking spot when she accidentally dinged the campaign vehicle. Local student Celia Meagher had no idea who the car belonged to, and she didn’t try to speed away after hitting the campaign car. She admitted to bumping the car and paid the fines for the accident, but she also added that people were quick to dox her.

The video was mostly mute, save for the honk from one car by the end of the video. The cussing and profanities aren’t heard here either. It would’ve been wise to walk away without machinating false claims, but the Ramaswamy camp holds their version of events to be true, even if the footage available doesn’t prove anything. To make matters worse for Ramaswamy, his campaign car was also illegally parked in a no-park zone according to police. This isn’t the first time Republicans shared misinformation to divide and incite fear among Americans. It just so happens that the lie was unconvincing this time and that authorities who examined the scene couldn’t be convinced by the claims of the “aggrieved.”

(featured image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)