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Thanks for watching, our extended edition of coffee with the candidates. We're here today with the vague Ramaswamy. Thank you so much for joining us. It's good to be here. We're also here with *** panel of Iowa Republicans who are undecided and who they plan to caucus for and they have some questions for Mr Ramaswamy. Jackie will start with you. You have *** question about his tax policy. Yes. All right. Um Do you think that, that lowering our taxes um could be part of your plan for building back what we've lost since 2020? The answer to that is absolutely yes. I favor *** 12% flat tax across the board. Ordinary income capital gain corporate estate doesn't matter 12% flat tax across the board and then eliminate *** lot of the crony capitalist deductions and special interest rebates that are built into our tax code that make it far more confusing than it needs to be. I don't think your taxes should take more than, you know, that page front and back right in front of you. It should be that simple, 12% of what you earned period and then minimal deductions or special interest deductions or loopholes built in too. There's only one reason I don't emphasize that as much in the campaign trail is that I don't believe in making false promises. And I believe in being frank with Americans about what they can and can't expect from my presidency. The things I'm emphasizing unlocking American energy drilling, fracking, burning coal, embracing nuclear energy, shutting down large swaths of the federal government that are overburdening both our national debt as well as even the regulations impeding our American economy that much. I can get done as your next president. Why do I know I can get that done because I run the executive branch of government. If I'm the next president, tax code policies require action of Congress and I can't promise you what 500 plus people on Capitol Hill and the circus that they run on *** given day are going to do or I say 304 100 plus people I should say. But here's what I know what my strategy is though most presidents go for their legislative agenda first through Congress, they tend to fail and then they lose momentum to be able to get done what they need to through the executive branch. I'm going in reverse. I'm starting and you're *** mayor, Jackie, you understand this, I'm gonna drive what I can as *** chief executive, just as you do as *** mayor. That's what I wanna do as the next president deliver real success there help drive economic growth through some of that deregulation, shutting down those excess agencies and regulations that then gives us *** tailwind for me to then have success in bringing Congress together to drive real changes like simplification of our tax code and significant reduction in tax rates that will drive economic growth that I think helps reg galvanize and reunite this country. And so it's *** little bit different than *** traditional politician. Looks at it. They want to go through Congress and their legislative agenda first. It's part of the reason why we want *** CEO in the White House is I'm gonna do things *** little bit differently and I think we're gonna be more successful because of it changing gears. *** little bit. Vince has *** question about election security. Yeah. Simple. Do you think our elections are secure? Not as secure as they should be? And I think we can make some simple changes to restore public confidence in that single day voting on election day as *** national holiday. So there's no burdens for people being able to show up with paper ballots and government issued ID to match the voter file that shouldn't be controversial. The country that put *** man on the moon can absolutely get that done in the way that we run our elections and that shores up public confidence in our elections if public confidence in our elections is *** major risk. Great. This is *** way that Republicans and Democrats can agree. We're moving forward past the debates about election integrity and election security. And so speaking, as *** Republican candidate for president, I'll do my part if we achieve those basic milestones, single day voting on election day as *** national holiday with paper ballots and government issued voter id to match the voter file. Then I will do my part to lead all Americans including Republicans to move past any bickering about election fraud or ballot fraud or election security. That's how we reunite this country. And I think that's the kind of leadership it's gonna take not backward looking grievance but actual productive solutions that we can deliver to tie these issues up so we can move forward as one nation under God again. And that's how I'll do it for election security. As we, as we mentioned earlier, Jackie is the mayor of Montezuma. She has *** question for you about local government. I do um psi county uh uh all of our communities surrounding Grinnell, we have farms and we have manufacturing plants and we have small businesses. And how will your policies help small town? Iowa. Well, it's *** great question. I have met with small town mayors across this country and I'm proud to meet you today. One of the things I've heard and you can tell me, Jack, if you agree with this being true is many of the regulations coming from the federal government, from the EPA or even from the broader state government, land use restrictions or otherwise that drive up housing costs. This is one of the great burdens for people who live in small towns across America. So I do believe in the 10th amendment. That means the federal government shouldn't do most of the heavy lifting. We don't want the federal government to do most of the heavy lifting. But part of the job is of the next leader is to make sure the federal government is getting out of the way. So my view is the next US president needs to be committed to rescinding the unconstitutional federal regulations that Congress never gave the power to those three letter agencies to actually implement that will have an effect on small towns across this country to stimulate the economy, to bring down the tax burden, for example, as well, to bring down the regulatory burden that allows businesses to thrive on their own 2 ft without *** federal government that necessarily gets in their way. And then it'll be up to state legislators, folks like yourself, Jackie at the local level to understand what the needs of that individual community are without using *** one size top down, one size fits all approach coming from on high from the federal government. I think one of the areas where the federal government needs to act is in reforming the US FED. So the US Federal Reserve I think has been out of control. Over the last two decades, printing money in *** really arbitrary way when I think the job of the US Federal Reserve should be solely to stabilize the US dollar. So under my watch, under the Federal Reserve and my administration, we would have *** single mandate of pegging the dollar to gold, silver and agricultural and farm commodities. So you actually have *** stable dollar. That's one of the things that's actually very hard for small businesses, large multinational companies, they can hedge their currency risk, small businesses when the dollar is volatile. Everyday business owners lose out, wage earners lose out in this country as well. And that's also the, it's not one of the politically firebrand topics that you're gonna, you know, arouse *** crowd over. But if you're looking at actually driving real world problems and solutions that you can address as the next president that's high on my list and reforming the fed radically. That's something I'll be able to do as the next president as well. It takes somebody who understands it, who's come from the background of business to be able to see that through. And I think that's one of my responsibilities as the next president. Thank you. You talk *** lot about your vision to drastically reduce the federal workforce if you were president, I know Lloyd had *** question specifically about the impact on veterans. I know 30% of the of federal employees are veterans. So Lloyd has *** question about that as *** commander in chief, uh, as, and as the leader of our military, multiple deployments, uh, are hard on, uh, military families. Yes, they are more so on the family than probably on the veteran or on the, uh, actual military person because of that. And because of the various things that I'm involved with the American Legion, the, uh, veterans of foreign wars, the, uh, Elks, what is your plan to support our active military and our veterans and provide them with *** quality of life that they just, they justly deserve Lloyd. I want to thank you not only for your service in the military but for your volunteer service now to take care of our veterans. And we were talking about this *** little bit off air. The reason why young people don't serve in the military at rates that are high enough. Now, 25% recruitment deficit is that they're not stupid. They see if this is how you treat veterans on the back end. No, there's no motivation to actually end up serving on the front end. This is *** job of the commander in chief. One of the things we need to do is to reform the va I think the va has really left our veterans hanging in *** way that we can actually solve. We need meritocracy and who actually works at the va the loss and the continuity of care. The number of veterans I've talked to in this country who pick up the phone and get one person looking after them at the VA, *** doctor or *** nurse or somebody who's helping them through their ptsd. And then the next week it's somebody different over the course of *** year might have 12, 13, 14 people that they're working with. That's actually one of the predictors of veterans turning to drugs or to alcoholism or fentaNYL or at worst suicide with upwards of 40 veterans per day committing suicide. That is *** solvable problem. If we actually run the va meritocratic. It's part of, one of the things I've said is I want to get rid of these civil service protections, but to instill meritocracy and who actually gets ahead in that federal bureaucracy, including at the va. So that's one of the things we'd be able to do. And this is, I know *** bit of, more of *** radical idea, but I am open to *** serious discussion about the va even being owned by veterans. Let's get it out of the federal government itself. Give ownership to the veterans who have actually served. Make it *** self owned cooperative's actually accountable to the people who it's supposed to serve. These are the kinds of ideas we're gonna need to seriously talk about to serve our veterans in this country. And lastly when people are leaving the military, one of the steps that we miss is workforce skills training. Yes, there are *** lot of valuable skills you gain in serving in the military, but just going *** little bit further by actual workforce preparation. Boy, would we help *** lot of veterans stand on their own 2 ft as they enter the civilian workforce? And it is staggering that we're not doing it today. That's *** failure of the Department of Labor. That's *** failure of *** department of education that spends $80 billion on subsidizing four year college degrees without basic workforce training, both for kids, graduating from high school or for people returning to the civilian workforce from the military alike. Those are practical solutions but practical solutions that will allow our veterans to thrive. And that's how we regain our national pride and our national identity by saying we are *** country that yes serves back the people who have served us. And I think that's something we need in the next commander in chief to revive that missing national pride in our country. Jackie has *** question for you on another topic. She wants to talk *** little bit about health care. Yes. Um President Trump said that um he was going to get rid of Obamacare and it's clearly still here. Um What is your plan for health care? I think Obamacare has been *** disaster. It has driven up health care costs in ways that were actually predictable. Sadly, the predictions have played out. Here's my simple changes that we can drive. One is the cost of bringing *** new medicine to market is way too expensive. And that's by design. Why is it by design? This happens to be an area I know *** lot about I built *** biotech company oversaw the development of five FDA approved medicines, one of which is life saving in kids. Another one for prostate cancer, certain other areas big Pharma has *** vested interest in keeping those costs high because if they were lower, if the burden of bringing new medicine to market were lower, that would allow more competitors to enter the game, which erodes the monopoly profits that Pharma enjoys today. That's corrupt. And what we need is to say, we embrace medical choice across the board. Think about the hypocrisy of *** federal government that on one hand says it has to take 10 years and billions of dollars to develop *** new medicine for it to be safe. You don't even have the right to try it unless it gets through that process. Yet. That same federal government also is the one that says, except sometimes if it's *** vaccine we shepherd in, during the COVID pandemic in nine months, you have no choice but not to take it. That's hypocrisy. You can't believe both those things at the same time. So I believe in medical choice and I believe in streamlining the process of bringing new medicines to market that brings more competition that yes will erode some of Big Pharma's profit margins but brings down health care costs for this country. The other thing we need to do and it's *** formula I'm using across the board from education to health care, drain the lifeblood out of the bureaucracy. Use that cost to put money in the hands and pockets of everyday citizens across this country. If it's parents shut down the department of education, put that money in the hands of parents who can send their kids to the best schools in the area of health care. Look at the wasted money in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid services C MS. Just in the bureaucracy, you could actually buy good private health insurance for many people who are on Medicaid, who can't afford private health insurance. Otherwise, that's *** far better solution through the private market rather than through the central command and control system in the federal bureaucracy. So if there's one thing you take away from my presidency or what I would do in my presidency, we will shut down the bureaucracy, we will thin out the federal bureaucrats, save that money, put it back in the pockets of people across this country and that'll take an actual CEO an outsider to get that job done. I know you mentioned the FDA there and Vince had *** question about the FDA. Do you have any other questions about that? You know, he answered it somewhat already. I was gonna ask you your opinion, the FDA and all the corruption that you mentioned that goes on within big Pharma and, and the whole pharmaceutical industry, I was, I would flip that *** little bit. I was gonna ask *** question on artificial intelligence. I've heard that could be *** useful tool maybe in that industry as well as others. So I wondered what you thought of it and how do you think, you know, it should be developed and used? So this is another one of those areas where I do think *** leader from the next generation who *** I is going to impact is already impacting and who also understands actually the unique challenges. This goes beyond partisanship is necessary in the next president. So I actually have used *** I in the drug company that I founded to discover new medicines. It was part of where the puck was going. And I think *** I can have *** lot of good uses in this country. But there are also real risks. The real risks is when it comes to interfacing with people, people's interface with *** I, especially kids. So here's how I think about *** I policy broadly. Are there risks? Yes, but we cannot adopt blanket bans in this country if China isn't adopting those same bans, either. Think about that. We banned gain of function research, but they still didn't Wuhan that created *** pandemic that the US suffered from. So we have to learn our lessons. No bans, especially if China is not willing to adopt the bans, but we also have to make companies responsible for the decisions they make. So just like you can't dump your chemicals if you're *** chemical company in somebody else's river. Well, if you're developing an *** I algorithm today that has *** negative impact on other people, you bear the liability for it. Well, that would make companies like Microsoft and Meta take that into account now rather than the government doing it come in and control those companies because they bear the liability. Those companies would then take that into account. Now, that's not happening today. And that's *** very pragmatic solution. You haven't heard it from either party, but that's the kind of solution we're gonna need to be able to make sure we're not banning something that could have good uses. But cause companies to take into account the risks that they face. And our final thought I'll leave with you on *** I is so I'm, I'm *** tennis fan. Ok. I used to watch *** professional tennis. I was *** ball boy. That was my first job. I ever had. The line judges used to be human beings today. The line judges are ***, is not made by human beings, but in the first generation of the *** I, you know what? You could see it would make wrong calls, you could just see it with your eyes. But John mcenroe and Jimmy Connors, they used to argue with the line judges. Well, now when the *** I starts making the call, what happened? Even if it's *** bad call, they stop arguing. So, what does that say? Now you go to chat? GP. T just try typing it in. How do you fight climate change or racial injustice? It gives you *** factual answer as though it was converting Fahrenheit to Celsius. That's the real danger of *** I is that people bend the knee to *** new master. And this is *** longer conversation. But one of the best ways to protect ourselves against the risks of *** I is actually to revive true faith in this country, faith in God. And that's *** longer conversation. But that's something that if I'm getting to the truth of the matter, that's an important part of the conversation we need to be having. I think Lloyd has *** question for you about the global nuclear stockpile. Uh He pointed out uh Russia, China, Pakistan, India, North Korea, all of them have increased their nuclear stockpile. Uh In 2022 in 2023 is *** question for you about that based on that reporting and uh the other factors that are going on with uh China and Russia various ones. How do you plan to deal with them in the Middle East countries uh as you go forward? So here's my foreign policy in *** nutshell. Avoid World War three, declare economic independence from our adversary communist China and then protect the homeland. Right now, Russia and China, they're in an alliance and they outmatch us, they have hypersonic missiles that can carry nuclear weapons that could hit the United States. So I'm focused on leading as *** member of *** new generation different from the foreign policy establishment in both Republican Party and Democratic Party that have left the US vulnerable to those threats. So my top priority as commander in chief for military spending is going to be to protect the homeland missile defense systems that were badly lacking border defense systems that were badly lacking cyber defense, super E MP, electromagnetic pulse defenses that are lacking, there could be electromagnetic pulse attacks that take out our entire electric grid in *** matter of days that we're vulnerable to space based defense capabilities. Russia and China have space based capabilities that we don't, we're naked, we're vulnerable. And so I think it is shameful that we have spent three trillion in wars from Iraq to Afghanistan. I think that many republicans are at risk of making the same mistake over again. Even other Republicans in this race without protecting the homeland first. That's what's different about me. We have *** very clear plan and vision of how to do it. And the last thing I will say this one is really important is our own military supply chain, the F-35s that we make in our air force that depends on China to provide the parts. Think about that. The very reason we're building up that stockpile is God forbid the scenario of *** conflict scenario with China. We can't depend on our adversary. We never depended on the US sr in the last Cold War for our own military supplies. We shouldn't depend on the Communist Chinese Party today for those either. And I do think it's going to take an outsider and *** leader from *** different generation to avoid the messes that the last generation of experienced foreign policy professionals got us into. And that's my special responsibility as an outsider and *** leader from *** different generation to actually lead us as commander in chief in *** way that avoids World War three rather than marching us into it. Well, that is all the time that we have. We got *** little alarm going off for the end of our discussion. Mr Thank you so much for joining us and to our panel. Thank you so much for your questions and to all watching. Thanks for joining us. Have *** great day.