Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the many Republican candidates for president who doesn’t have a chance in hell of wrestling the nomination away from Trump, is still on the campaign trail, doing his best to convince Trump to pick him for vice president. And to build support from the far-right, he’s taken a hard anti-Ukraine stance. As you can imagine, arguing to cut off support for Ukraine, block it from joining NATO and let Russia have whatever land it currently occupies has not been universally well-received. According to Ramaswamy (who is polling at around 7%, by the way) and his campaign, it was enough to cause two protesters to ram his car at a campaign stop in Iowa.
The Associated Press reports that according to Ramaswamy’s spokesperson, “Prior to the protestors ramming their car they continually laid on the horn, flipped staff off and screamed expletives (it appeared in efforts to create commotion.) It seemed like the protestor couldn’t stay at the event or didn’t want to and wanted to make a statement. (Though I can’t assign motivations.) The driver began to drive off but stopped suddenly after staffers chased after to get insurance information.”
Police, however, disagree. According to their version of events, the driver was a 22-year-old woman who backed her car out of a parking spot when she accidentally hit Ramaswamy’s Ford Expedition. She reportedly told them “she was not there protesting anything, had no idea whose vehicle she had hit, did not intentionally cause the crash and did not flee the scene.” Police also say there is no evidence to support the campaign’s claim that the crash was intentional or that she tried to drive off.
Since both cops and Republican presidential candidates love to lie, it’s hard to determine which side is actually telling the truth. But considering how strong law enforcement supports Republicans, you’d think that if they were going to lie, it would be in support of Ramaswamy. Then again, since he’s not white, that throws another variable into the whole equation. Unless more evidence comes out, we’re going to lean toward believing the young woman’s story that she just accidentally hit another car after eating lunch.