When Vivek Ramaswamy Called Elon Musk a ‘Circus Monkey’ Accusing Him of Pandering to Chinese Community Party
- It remains to be seen whether the Indian American’s past comments will reduce the credibility as DOGE co-chair to run the newly-formed department.
Ever since he suspended his presidential campaign earlier this year and endorsed Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy became a surrogate of the president-elect, talking his talk and walking his walk. There were talks about him being on Trump’s shortlist for his running mate pick, and then the possibility of a Cabinet position. But Trump appointed the Indian American entrepreneur and millionaire to co-head a newly-formed department with Elon Musk, the richest man in the world. Named the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, it aims to dismantle government bureaucracy and slash excess regulations. The duo is visiting Capitol Hill today (Dec. 5) to meet with members of the U.S. Congress to present their ideas on the workings of the department, that will exist outside of the government.
Along with promises of cost-cutting, Ramaswamy also has his co-chair’s back. He promised to “carefully scrutinize” federal loans made to Musk’s electric vehicle rivals, as reported by the Daily Kos. In a post on X, he said he would investigate federal loans made to electric vehicle manufacturers not named Tesla under the Inflation Reduction Act. He was reacting to the Department of Energy’s announcement of a $7 billion federal loan to two Indiana-based electric battery plants.
While all seems hunky-dory between the two co-chairs, CNN’s K-Files has revealed that Ramaswamy didn’t always have a favorable opinion of Musk. Ramaswamy’s previous attacks on Musk were reported yesterday (Dec. 4) by CNN’s K-Files. Ramaswamy has “a lengthy history of attacking his partner’s ties to China, frequently referring to Musk as a “circus monkey” and a puppet for the Chinese Communist Party,” the K-Files report said. Ramaswamy has also criticized Musk’s 2022 comments on Taiwan, suggesting that the island in the western Pacific Ocean become “a special administrative region of China. I have no reason to think Elon won’t jump like a circus monkey when Xi Jinping calls in the hour of need,” Ramaswamy added, referring to the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and president of China.
K-Files used Ramaswamy’s comments on Musk in a 2022 Fox News podcast, where spoke about how Musk has benefitted from billions of dollars in government contracts and assistance. “Both Tesla and SpaceX quite likely would not exist as successful businesses if it were not for the use of public funding, either through subsidies, through the electric car industry, or through actual government contracting in the case of SpaceX,” Ramaswamy said. “Elon Musk has, I think, demonstrated his willingness to change his political tunes based on the favors that he gets to be able to do business in China.”
Some of Ramaswamy’s opinions on Musk stem from the fact that the two have “divergent views,” CNN explained. “While Musk has recently favored closer ties, Ramaswamy has called for an economic decoupling from China.” As a presidential candidate in the 2024 GOP primary, Ramaswamy was often critical of U.S. economic ties to China,” CNN said. “While he claimed other companies such as Apple and Black Rock were enabling and making political concessions to China, he often singled out Musk for some of his harshest criticism,” the report added.
Meanwhile, Ramaswamy told CNN that his past attacks on Musk came before they had ever met. “We aired some of these issues the first time we spoke,” he said in a statement issued to CNN. Along with crediting Musk for taking “extraordinary risks against his financial interests,” Ramaswamy said the two know each other well now. “I love him and respect the hell out of him, and I’m proud to call him a friend. The only country he puts first is the same one I do: the United States of America.”
Musk is not the only one Ramaswamy has criticized in the past, mostly regarding the Jan. 6 riots. He has also commented on Trump’s failure to repeal and replace Obamacare. While those comments were made on the camping trail, they differ significantly from Ramaswamy’s poor opinion of Musk. Accusing Musk of being a puppet of the Chinese government may have an impact on DOGE, CNN noted that although the comments, made within the last two years, have received little attention, they do raise questions “over how the two intend to work together.” Whether this revelation affects the working of the new department or causes further examination into the past, only time will tell.
(Top photo: Rep. Jerry Carl, R-Ala., X photo)