What does it mean to be an American in the year 2024? It means we believe in the ideals of 1776. It means we believe in merit, that you get ahead in this country, not on the color of your skin, but on the content of your character and your contributions. It means we believe in the rule of law. ~ Vivek Ramaswamy
Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 16, 2024.
Full Transcript
Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, now, please welcome businessman Vivek Ramaswamy of Ohio.
Vivek Ramaswamy: Love it. Thank you guys. Thank you for the warm welcome. It’s good to be back in Milwaukee. This time last year, I was the candidate for U.S. President. And I’m proud to say that I achieved the impossible, which is that most of you actually know how to say my name by now. So. So thank you for that. It’s good to be back.
We’re in the middle of a national identity crisis right now. Faith, patriotism, hard work and family have disappeared, only to be replaced by race, gender, sexuality and climate. But we’re not going to win this election just by criticizing the other side. We’re going to win this by standing for our own vision of who we really are. What does it mean to be a Republican in the year 2024?
What does it mean to be an American in the year 2024? It means we believe in the ideals of 1776. It means we believe in merit, that you get ahead in this country, not on the color of your skin, but on the content of your character and your contributions. It means we believe in the rule of law. And I say this as the kid of legal immigrants to this country. That means your first act of entering this country cannot break the law. That is why we will seal the southern border on day one. Thank you. It means the people who we elect to run the government ought to be the ones who actually run the government, not unelected bureaucrats in the deep state. These are not black ideas or white ideas. They are not even Democrat ideas or Republican ideas. They are American ideas that we fought a revolution to secure. And the man who will revive these ideals in the United States of America is your next President, the 47th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.
If you want to seal the border, vote Trump. If you want to restore law and order in this country, vote Trump. If you want to reignite the economy in this country, vote Trump. If you want to revive national pride in this country, vote Trump. If you want to make America great again, vote Trump. But there is one more reason I’m going to ask you to vote Trump. And it’s the most important one. It’s the one the media won’t talk about. But it’s the truth. Donald Trump is the President who will actually unite this country, not through empty words, but through action. Because you know what? Success is unifying. Excellence is unifying. That’s who we are as Americans. That’s who we’ve always been.
To those of you watching this at home tonight. I’d like to deliver a message that the media doesn’t want you to hear from the Republican Party. Our message to black Americans is this, the media has tried to convince you for decades that Republicans don’t care about your communities, but we do. We want for you what we want for every American, safe neighborhoods, clean streets, good jobs, a better life for your children, and a justice system that treats everyone equally, regardless of your skin color and regardless of your political beliefs.
Our message to every legal immigrant in this country is this. You’re like my parents, you deserve the opportunity to secure a better life for your children in America. But our message to illegal immigrants is also this. We will return you to your country of origin. Not because you’re all bad people, but because you broke the law. And the United States of America was founded on the rule of law.
Our message to millennials, speaking as one myself. Yes, it’s true, our government sold us a false bill of goods with the Iraq war and the 2008 financial crisis. Loading up our national debt that falls on our generation’s shoulders, telling us that if we took out college loans, we’d somehow get a head start in the American dream. When it hasn’t worked out that way.
But we can’t just be cynical about our country, because the United States of America is still the last, best hope that we have. And we deserve a better class of politicians, one who actually tells us the truth, even if it comes with some mean tweets from time to time.
And our message to Gen Z is this. You’re going to be the generation that actually saves this country. You want to be a rebel? You want to be a hippie? You want to stick it to the man. Show up on your college campus and try calling yourself a conservative. Say you want to get married, have kids, teach them to believe in God and pledge allegiance to their country. Because you know what? Fear has been infectious in this country. But courage can be contagious too. That, too, is what it means to be an American.
And you know what? If you’re at home and you disagree with everything I just said, our message to you is this, We will still defend to the death your right to say it, because that is who we are as Americans. We are the country where we can disagree like hell and still get together at the dinner table at the end of it. That is the America I know. That is the America we miss.
We do not have to be ancient Rome. We don’t have to be this nation in decline. We can still be a nation in our ascent, a nation whose best days, not in some fake politician way, but in a true way, a nation whose best days are actually still ahead of us. Still on our way to that shining city on a hill. That country where no matter who you are, or where your parents came from, or what your skin color is, or how long your last name is. That you will still get ahead in this country with your own hard work, your own commitment, your own dedication. And that you know what? You are free to speak your mind at every step of the way.
That is the American dream. That is what won us the American Revolution. That is what reunited us after the Civil War. That is what won us two world wars and the Cold War. That is what still gives hope to the free world. And if we can revive that dream over group identity and victimhood and grievance, then nobody in the world, not a nation, not a corporation, not a virus, not China is going to defeat us.
That is what American exceptionalism is all about. And that is what we will revive this November when we send Donald J. Trump back to the white House.
Thank you all. God bless you and your families. And may God bless our United States of America. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.