When talking about businessman Vivek Ramaswamy's performance at Wednesday night's debut Republican presidential primary, the adjectives that burbled up in both press and social media chatter were not what one would traditionally consider flattering: Annoying. Irritating. Glib. It was the consensus view among serious people that the guy is a jackass. It wasn't just liberals on MSNBC rolling their eyes at a man who was as smug as he was stupid. The other Republicans on the stage seemed genuinely miffed at his presence. This means that Ramaswamy had a banner night with the people he was trying to reach: The MAGA audience.
Obviously, he won't be replacing Donald Trump in their hearts, nor does he have any interest in trying, but for the redhat crowd, all that matters is "triggering the liberals," a group so widely defined it now encompasses not just Democrats but any Republican who still believes in quaint ideas like basic decency. We should be grateful that Ramaswamy's method was merely to act like an overcaffeinated version of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex. In 2027, the attention-seeking trolls that worm their way on the debate stage may have to escalate to flashing their genitals and heiling Hitler to garner that sweet, sweet outrage that is the nectar MAGA feeds upon.
