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From KCC I Eight News. This is *** special presentation, coffee with the candidates. Hello and welcome to our series, coffee with the candidates. I'm Amanda Rooker. And today we're talking with the vague Rama Swamy. We're getting to know presidential candidates going to towns all Iowa so that voters can ask about the issues they care about. Today. We're in Grinnell in Power County. 37% of active voters in Power. She County are Republican. In 2016 50% of voters cast their ballots for Donald Trump in 2020 55% voted for Trump. We'll sit down with three undecided Republicans from right here in Power County. They'll ask Mr Ramos Swamy about the issues they care about over *** cup of coffee. But first, let's take *** look at the big Rama Swamy background. The Rama Swamy worked as an investment partner at *** hedge fund before founding his own biotech company in 2014. He also wrote *** best selling book titled Woke Incorporated in 2021. Ramaswamy has no prior record of running for or holding public office. He earned *** biology degree from Harvard University before going on to attend Yale law school. I'm here today with the Ramaswamy Republican presidential candidate. Thanks so much for joining us. It's good to be here. I ask you few questions. One, I want to talk about abortion. *** huge topic in the Republican Party right now in the country right now. And you've differed from some of the other Republicans in the race. You say you don't want *** federal abortion ban if that's correct. Well, the reason why is I am unapologetically pro life. I'm also 1/10 amendment absolutist, I believe in the constitution. And I think if we open the door to the federal government regulating this, not only is that *** violation of the 10th amendment, more importantly, more babies will die, unborn Children will die over the next decade because the Democrats will immediately move to codify Roe versus Wade into law and I don't want to see that happen in this country. They're already trying to do it. So I believe this should be driven by the states and stand for *** strong pro life position at the state level, including states like Iowa, where I was here to celebrate the legislation that was passed just *** few months back. And that's where I'm at. What would you say to Iowans? Who say this is, there are many Iowans who say this is *** single issue for me. I want someone that is going to fight for life at the federal level and I want So here would be my answer to you. I am fighting for life more effectively at the federal level than anybody else in this race. Because what can we do on day one? Cut off funding for Planned Parenthood. But my concern is that what's going to happen is we are going to see the left take advantage of opening the federal door to codify the actual Roe versus Wade Standard into federal law. They've done this time and again, right now, we've gotten the federal government out of the way, Roe versus Wade was badly decided, Dobbs was correctly decided. Now it's time for us to take that win to the next level by delivering victories like we have right here in Iowa. And I was personally here to celebrate it. I believe that most people in this country are pro life and just don't admit it. Clarence Thomas famously asked the question of the woman walking down the street, she's pregnant, she's assaulted the unborn child dies as *** result. There isn't *** single American I've met in this country who says that that criminal does not deserve liability for that death. What does that tell you most of us are pro life, but we need *** president who can actually speak about this issue with clarity on principle and mark my words on the approach I'm taking that will result in fewer unborn Children dying over the next decade than any other alternative approach. The good things in life lead to more life and I will stand by that. Unborn life is life. That's the hard truth and I'll govern accordingly. Another thing that has set you apart *** little bit. You have come out with *** clear plan on what you would do to end the war in Ukraine. Yes. In my understanding how that deal, it would be *** deal that would, well summary, it would cede some of Ukraine to Russia, ask Russia to end their military alliance with China. Is that correct? Not ask demand and require that Russia and its military alliance on that? When you're talking to Putin, you have said that he would agree to this because it's in his self interest. Yes. Do you believe that Vladimir Putin is *** rational actor? I believe that he acts according to his self interest. He is *** Craven dictator but just because Putin is bad, does not mean that Ukraine is good. I think we have to level with the American people on this. This is *** country that has banned 11 opposition parties that has consolidated all state TV. Media into one channel threatened the US not to hold its own elections unless the US forked over more money. Zelensky celebrating *** Nazi in his ranks with the Canadian Parliament. This was, this is shameful. Now, many of the regions that are occupied in the Donbass now are Russian speaking regions that are not even represented in Ukraine's Parliament. So we have to level with the American people on these facts and against that backdrop is Russia Craven. Have they behaved awfully? Yes, they have. But that doesn't mean Ukraine is *** saint here. We have to have *** reasonable path to peace. And you know what my path to peace would require Russia to exit its military alliance with China that would weaken China. Communist China is the real threat that we face today. And right now Xi Jinping's bet China's bet is that the US won't want to go to war with two different allied nuclear superpowers. At the same time, Russia and China, if China invades Taiwan, but if Russia is no longer in China's camp, then Russia is going to have to think twice, then China's going to have to think twice before making that move. So my goal is to avoid world war three, declare economic independence from Communist China and then focus our own military spending on protecting our own homeland, protect our border, using our military, secure our own border against nuclear missile defenses and against cyber attacks and super P attacks. That's *** new generation of leadership. And I think that's what it's going to take to actually secure American interests rather than ending up in the next Iraq or Afghanistan, which is what I worry the existing foreign policy establishment is leading to $3 trillion thousands of American lives. I refuse to make those same Iraq and Afghanistan mistakes again. I'm going to lead, advancing American interests without apologizing for it. Well, that's all the time that we have for our conversation, but you have many other parts of your policy platform. So actually, we're going to take it up *** notch. We're going to bring in *** group of Iowa Republicans that are going to ask their questions to you. We'll be right back. Coffee with the candidates continues right now. Our conversation with Republican presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy continues at Saints Rest Coffee House in Granell. We're joined by three undecided Iowa Republicans from right here in power. She County. Welcome back to coffee with the candidates today. We're here with the big Ramay Republican presidential candidate. Thanks for joining us. Good to see you. Good to be here. Good to be with you and we are also here with *** group of Iowa Republicans and all three of you are undecided and who you plan to caucus for in January. Is that correct? Yes, great. Well, thanks so much for joining us. All three of you are from the area and you have some questions yourself for Mr Ramaswamy. I may jump in with *** few follow ups of my own. Uh But first, we're gonna start with you, Jackie, you are the mayor of Montezuma. You're also run running for county supervisor and you have *** question for Mr Ramaswamy about being uh young and running for president. Yes. Yes. Uh Being the first millennial to run for president. What, uh, what have been your hurdles and how are you overcoming that? Sure. Well, I understand I am the new guy. I have no voting track record in the Senate or *** governing track record as *** governor. I do have *** track record in business, but I understand that as the young guy, as the new guy in this race, it is my job to earn the trust of our voter base because it's *** serious ask. I'm making to be the next commander in chief who leads us forward. Now, my view is I think it will take somebody whose best days in life are still yet ahead of himself. I hope so. Certainly at the age of 38 to see *** country whose best days are still yet ahead as well. Now, I have taken on bureaucracies, I've taken on the bureaucracy of Big Pharma in the first business that I built took on the bureaucracy of the ESG complex of asset managers like Blackrock with the business that I built called strive. Both are successful companies today. The first is *** multi billion dollar company that developed five FDA approved medicines. I've raised two sons. I've traveled *** majority of states in this country. Now, I'm taking on the biggest bureaucracy of all and that's the federal government. But I do think even if we think about the founding culture of our country, yes, I would be young at 38 to be President Thomas Jefferson was 33 years old when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. And, you know, the interesting thing is about that he also, he invented the swivel chair while he was at it, the swivel chair we sit in today was invented by Thomas Jefferson while he was writing that Declaration of Independence. That's *** kind of spirit that I think we're missing in this country today. 60% of young Americans today say they would sooner give up their right to vote than to give up their access to tiktok. And I think that's *** problem and I view it as my responsibility, not just an opportunity I have as *** young person, my responsibility to reach that next generation and revive missing national pride in this country. And so, yes, one of the obstacles, what was it? It's been to convince people this is *** very different generation of leader. That's *** bet that we as *** country are gonna have to be willing to take if I'm the next president. And that burden falls on me to say that yes, I'm gonna be able to take that on. But the opportunity that it presents is to reach the next generation of Americans, which is why I think all of us in this race are in it. That's certainly why I'm in this. And I think that it will take someone of that different generation to actually lead us forward. Vince, you have the next question. And Vince, uh, runs this company that helps people buy and sell farmland. He has *** question for you about Social security. Ok. Uh, what are your plans for Social security? Uh, many young people are getting it taken out of their checks right now. At the same time, they're being told that it's probably not gonna be there when they need it. Well, I think that they're being told that's not gonna be there when they need it because we're out of money in that system. So that's *** hard fact and *** hard reality that I think we should be honest with young people about it doesn't have to stay that way though. So, one of the mistakes that we made back when we did have *** social security surplus was that we failed to invest it in the same way. Our financial advisors would tell us to invest it if it was in our own bank account, our own investment account in *** diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds. If we had done that 20 years ago when I was first in college or entering the workforce, we would have *** massive social security surplus today and we don't. So that's the first thing is we gotta learn from the mistakes of the past the next time we have *** surplus and I think we're gonna get back there through economic growth. We have to not repeat those same mistakes of the past now. How do we get back to that surplus? My view is here's how we find our way out of the national debt problem. We have $33 trillion deficit debt debt problem with the deficit adding to it every year. Republicans will say many of them cut social security and Medicare. In some way, Democrats will say raise taxes. There's *** third and better way. I wanna bring zero based budgeting to the entire federal government. The problem right now you even see it in Congress today is they use last year's budget and then say, hey, what do we change? Well, the problem is last year's budget has *** lot in it. That was wrong. And that was based on the prior year's budget. I think we'll take *** CEO in the White House. I've been *** CEO. This is how I run my businesses. This is how many successful CEO S run their businesses. You don't just take last year's budget and roll it forward. We start with zero as the baseline and then ask what's actually necessary. I think we should implement *** 75% head count reduction in the number of federal bureaucrats in Washington DC. I don't think we need *** Federal Department of Education that spends $80 billion of our taxpayer money when education is really driven by people at the local level as it should be. So when you look at where I'm focused, squeezing that juice out of the unconstitutional administrative state, those regulatory agencies. That's sprawling federal bureaucracy. That's how we bring down the national debt. That's also how we grow the economy. *** lot of those regulations are holding our businesses back and that combination of savings plus economic growth. That's how we're actually gonna be able to get back to *** sane place without having to touch Social security or Medicare on the way there. And then when we get back to that social security surplus, yes, allow people to invest it just as you would your normal investment account. And if we had done that 20 years ago, we would be in *** great spot today. Well, we learned from our past mistakes to actually lead us to our future. And that's very pragmatically how I'm gonna lead as the next president. But just to confirm, you're not calling for some of your, the other Republicans in the race for the nomination have put out proposals on age, you know, changing the age to receive social security or making any changes. You would not advocate for anything like that. I don't think those are going to be necessary because we actually have lower hanging fruit that we can actually derive those savings from. So I understand they're coming from *** good place. I think anybody who is serious about tackling the national debt, they have *** useful contribution. But I think there are much easier places to go. Starting with the federal bureaucracy itself, starting with delivering economic growth itself. Something we haven't talked about, that's our way out of this problem. And part of the reason I'm not going to those solutions right away is that we're *** place where people across this country mistrust the government and mistrust the government. For good reason, the government has systematically, I think been bit dishonest with people in this country. So we have to earn that trust back before we're talking about even remotely touching Medicare or Social security benefits. And the good news is if you're coming in with the ceo's mindset, there are other ways to significantly reduce our national debt while delivering economic growth that don't involve cutting those benefits or raising the retirement age along the way. So yes, to answer your question, I am different than the other candidates in that respect. And another thing that makes you different and has maybe grabbed some headlines has been your on raising the voting age. You have proposed raising the voting voting age to 25 and less uh younger Americans under age 25 pass *** citizenship test or they have served at least six months of military service or as *** first responder if I'm understanding your plan correctly. Uh Jackie has *** question about that plan. Yeah, sure. There's, I would frame it differently, but I want to hear Jackie's question. Sure. Ok. Well, my question is concerning, um, your ideas on raising the voting age. I, I wonder I wonder what that will look like to the high school graduate that does not go to college that goes directly into the workforce and is paying taxes. And, um, do you, I mean, I, I kind of feel like maybe they won't have *** voice. So let me, let me address this because I think that one of the things that's true about me as *** candidate is most of my support is actually coming from relatively young people. I believe we have to reach the next generation. But I'm also somebody who's not gonna pander. I'm gonna speak my true convictions and I would rather lose this election and speak my actual convictions than to win by playing *** careful political snakes and ladders. So to be very frank this, I did not poll well, my campaign advisor, they polled. They said we have to poll this before it goes out. It didn't poll. Well, I still said this is important to the future of the country. But the real idea is this. I think every high school senior who graduates from high school should have to and be able to pass the same civics test that every immigrant has to pass. In order to become *** voting citizen of this country, we require it of immigrants to this country for *** reason. You got to know something about the country to actually value that country. Well, it's no accident that we have *** crisis of national pride. Less than 16% of Gen Z says they're even proud to be an American. We have *** 25% recruitment deficit in our US military and our founding fathers under stood this. You got to have skin in the game to actually play in the game and value that system or else national self loathing sets in. So this isn't about Republicans and Democrats. We have to think outside the box and think about how we're actually going to substantively revive national pride in this country. So if we're going to ask an immigrant to know it, as I think we should, I think we should ask every 18 year old to know what branch of government the US president leads when they're voting for the US president to lead the executive branch to know the basics about what our constitution says about free speech or free expression or freedom of religion. Yes, I think it's *** good thing. Now, the question is, how do we implement that? I think they are much more pragmatic ways of doing it. Let's be real. That's not gonna happen without *** constitutional amendment. And anybody who's telling you that they're gonna get *** constitutional amendment through is selling you *** false promise because that's *** very high bar. But I think part of the role of *** US president is to start actual honest, raw conversations in this country so that we're able to implement far more thematic policies. It's gonna be driven by governors. I've talked to the governor of this state about it. I've talked to the governors and lieutenant governors, including in my own home state about it saying that that should be *** part of *** basic norm of what we expect of public education is civic education. So that every 18 year old knows exactly what an immigrant does when they come to this country. And in part because of my advocacy that's now happening in states across this country. And I'll be able to set that tone as the next president. And I think this part is really important. I think that the policies that you implement as president or propose, that's really only half the job for *** senator or for congressman. That's 90% of the job. But for the US president, yeah, the policy binder on day one, that's half the job. Most of those stated policies never get through because Congress isn't gonna wanna pass them. Certainly. If it's *** constitutional amendment, it's not getting through reforming the executive branch that much I can do. But that's half the job. The other half of the job is what Reagan talked about in his farewell speech in 1989. He said we revived *** national character that we lacked when I first took office in 1981. That's what Reagan said. And when I think *** lot about what do I wanna say when I leave office in January 2033. After two terms. That's the real destination. Not November 2024 not January 2025. When I take office, January 2033 when my two sons are themselves entering high school, my older son will be, what do I want to tell the people of this country that we actually did? Sure. *** lot of it will be head count reductions in the federal bureaucracy. It'll be growing the economy, declaring independence from China. I want to keep us out of world war. But the most important thing I wanna say when I leave office in January 2033 is that my two sons and their generation that they are once again proud to be citizens of this nation. And I'm not gonna do that alone. But I think the president can play *** big role in that in the kind of tone we set from the top apart from the individual policies, which I think are important, but may not even be the most important thing for how the next president leads this country. So that gives you *** sense for where I'm coming from reaching that next generation and reviving civic pride. Yes, that's really important to me. And I'm gonna be very open to talking to young people across this country to make sure over the next eight years, we're taking many approaches to do it. Not just *** one size fits all approach. Thank you, Jackie. I appreciate that in order to get there though, you'll have to win the Republican nomination. Lloyd had *** question for you about that. He is *** Vietnam veteran. He's also *** member of the American Legion, but Lloyd is very, very thorough. He went through some polling, he looked at some numbers that he pointed out to me before this and he mentioned an article that showed that after the first Republican debate, you gained some spotlight. You spiked *** little bit in the national polls, but since then you're polling nationally and in Iowa has plateaued. Meanwhile, Donald Trump's polling continues hasn't dipped under 50% in the average according to 5 30 eight's polling. So he has *** question about how you overcome that. That's all accurate. Yeah. Traditionally Iowa has been *** red state although uh Iowa did side with Democrats in six of the seven elections from 1992 to 2012. I I mentioned that because uh some people say we're not traditionally red. However, uh, uh Trump has carried the 2020 presidential race here. 53.1% to Biden's 14 44.9%. Given your polling, uh given Iowa's traditional voting record and the results of 2020. Do you think you can carry Iowa? And why I do think so now, whether that's gonna happen or not, that's not my decision. That decision belongs to you. All my job is this, I'm gonna tell you who I am and what I stand for and my view is that's very difficult to do these days with media and social media getting in the way. That's why I love the Iowa caucus system. We actually just took an apartment in Des Moines, actually signed *** lease for it. I'm spending *** lot of time here because there's no social media algorithms in the air between us. Right. There's no TV, screens between us. That's what makes the caucus process special. So I'm gonna take advantage of that by having as many live in person conversations as possible. I can't do that nationally, but we can do that here. And if at the end of that process, everybody knows who me and I would say we are family, who we are and what we stand for and then they still decide to go for somebody else. I'm actually very much at peace with that. That's the process working as it should. So my goal isn't to map out the horse race politics of what do I need to say to map out the path to victory. That's not how I'm thinking about this. What I'm thinking about this, how can I reach as many people as I can to share my actual convictions, give them the tools to choose the leader who they're gonna want to carry this country forward and that choice belongs to them. Now, here's the case I'll be making though. I think Donald Trump was an excellent president. That's why he's doing so well in the national polling, I'm the only candidate who's running against him, who has been able to say that clearly and consistently at every step of the way. And I agree with 90% plus of his policies, some small detail differences. But by and large, I agree with his policies. The real choice is this though. Do you want somebody who is in some cases already done it? But doing it again? OK, that's the case for Trump or do you want somebody with fresh legs from *** different generation who can actually lead us forward and reunite this country? I'm young in *** way that he's not, I won't be the same person eight years from now, just as he is not the same person today that he was eight years ago when he first came to Iowa. We're human beings. I do think we're in the middle of *** sort of war in this country, *** war for the soul of our country. *** divide between those of us. I think it's *** majority of us who love this country and our founding ideals from meritocracy to free speech, to the pursuit of excellence, the rule of law, black or white democrat or Republican say it's *** red state or *** light red state. Put that to one side. Most of us in the this country and in the state share those values in common. And then there's *** fringe minority that has the current Democratic Party in *** Chokehold, but *** tiny fringe minority that rejects those ideals and I think hates our national values. That's the real divide. I think, first of all, it takes somebody who knows we're in that war to win that war. And Donald Trump fits that description. I fit that description, but I think it will take somebody who hasn't been wounded in that war to actually succeed and revive this country. And you know what, half the people on the other side, even half that 20% they're people younger than me who never learned those ideals in the first place. And I think we can bring them along. I think I can reunite this country in *** way that nobody else in this race including Trump actually can. And I think our Republican base, our America first base. We are hungry, badly hungry for reuniting this country. That's how we take our own America first agenda to the next level. So if you want experience in the tried and true, it's very hard to argue with *** guy who's been the president and who I will acknowledge was an excellent president. But if we want to build on that foundation, but take our own movement to the next level and reunite this country and reach the next generation, then yes, it will take somebody from *** different generation who like Trump is an outsider. But unlike Trump has fresh legs and that I think is gonna be more valuable now in leading the nation forward, even though he was what we needed in 2016. I believe it's my generation and I think it's gonna be me this race that is gonna be best equipped to unite this country going forward. Well, that's all the time that we actually have for television. So thank you for sharing and we actually do have an extended round table. So we'll continue this conversation. But thank you for joining us and thank you to our panel for being here as well. Our conversation with the Big Rama Swamy will continue. You can watch that extended version of our discussion on our mobile app or online at KCC dot com. Thanks for watching, coffee with the candidates. Have *** great day.