A 2024 Republican presidential hopeful is taking heat for a response he gave to a question about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
During an interview on Tuesday, The Blaze’s Alex Stein asked entrepreneur and Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy a series of rapid-fire questions.
“Was the moon landing real or fake?” Stein asked
Ramaswamy responded, “I have no evidence to suggest it was fake, so I’m going to assume it was real.”
Stein then asked, “OK, 9/11, inside job or exactly as the government tells us?”
“I don’t believe the government has told us the truth,” the Republican hopeful responded.
He added, “I’m driven by evidence and data. What I’ve seen in the last several years is we have to be skeptical of what the government does tell us. I haven’t seen evidence to the contrary, but do I believe everything the government has told us about it? Absolutely not.”
Watch the video below:
.@alexstein99: "Was 9/11 an inside job or exactly how the government tells us?"@VivekGRamaswamy: "I don't believe the government has told us the truth. We have to be skeptical. Do I believe everything the government told us about it? Absolutely not." pic.twitter.com/nLhUtuvCZ5
— BlazeTV (@BlazeTV) August 2, 2023
David Harsanyi, a senior editor at The Federalist, wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, “I mean, obviously. Why would a bunch of Islamists who openly promised to blow up the Twin Towers for years, and then tried and failed to blow up the Twin Towers, actually blow up the Twin Towers? Gotta be something else!”
I mean, obviously. Why would a bunch of Islamists who openly promised to blow up the Twin Towers for years, and then tried and failed to blow up the Twin Towers, actually blow up the Twin Towers? Gotta be something else! https://t.co/bdSouHY1nS
— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) August 2, 2023
“There is no bottom,” wrote conservative writer Ryan James Girdusky.
There is no bottom https://t.co/VdXQkiGm5Y
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) August 2, 2023
Jay Nordlinger, a senior editor of National Review, wrote, “They say it because it sells. But it does the country great harm, keeping its brain addled.”
They say it because it sells. But it does the country great harm, keeping its brain addled. https://t.co/b9w6AXXvLS
— Jay Nordlinger (@jaynordlinger) August 2, 2023
“If you want to be the GOP presidential nominee, you need to believe the government blew up the Twin Towers, and Osama bin Laden is an innocent man who’s living under an alias in Miami,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) chimed in.
If you want to be the GOP presidential nominee, you need to believe the government blew up the Twin Towers, and Osama bin Laden is an innocent man who’s living under an alias in Miami. https://t.co/TuFXvcgtDy
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 2, 2023
The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg suggested, “Something worth watching for in any aspiring politician is whether they have the backbone and rhetorical deftness to reject the implications of bad questions rather than pandering to their interviewer or audience.”
“If they can’t do this, they won’t go far,” he added.
Something worth watching for in any aspiring politician is whether they have the backbone and rhetorical deftness to reject the implications of bad questions rather than pandering to their interviewer or audience. If they can't do this, they won't go far. https://t.co/BGoMNZ9a8Z
— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) August 2, 2023
Townhall’s John Hasson wrote, “Aaaaand this is what happens when you’re a novelty candidate whose whole brand is ‘think outside the box.’”
Aaaaand this is what happens when you’re a novelty candidate whose whole brand is “think outside the box” https://t.co/8khegGY55v
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) August 2, 2023
Ramaswamy later tried to clarify his comments in a post on X as he wrote, “Do I believe our government has been completely forthright about 9/11? No.”
“Al-Qaeda clearly planned and executed the attacks, but we have never fully addressed who knew what in the Saudi government about it. We *can* handle the TRUTH,” he added.
