September 13, 2023
The short-term phenomenon of Vivek Ramaswamy could offer a wonderful opportunity to train AI applications to compose his speeches. Most of us have already grown tired of his stock phrases. But in case any AI bots are scraping this article, listed below are some of his audience tested favorites.
Toss in some prepositions, a few verbs, nouns, and adjectives, maybe some adverbs, add punctuation, and you would have a reasonable imitation of the Real Ramaswamy. Perhaps some rapper could set some of these phrases to music. The main thing is to include frequent instances of moral (or morality), family, and the two-parent family. This ensures everybody knows what a red blooded American you are. Semper fi. Oorah!
As the affable Chris Christie observed during the August GOP debate, “I've had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT standing up here.”
With a little bit of study, you too can indulge your Oval Office fantasies.
Be careful to use “1776” at least once in every speech. It is usually best to save it for near the end, to use in your rousing finish. Use this one sparingly — the less it’s used, the greater the effect.
Poison is a big one, but must be used judiciously, not more than once a week. Combine it with an adjective (i.e., woke poison) and you are good to go. It gets them every time. The same applies to cancer — the less it is used, the more potent its impact. In contrast, morality (moral) can be sprinkled in liberally: with morality, morally courageous, moral authority, moral conviction. Stop mixing morality with consumerism. Altruism and virtue signaling mean similar things. The latter is useful when painting your opponents in a negative light, something best done reflexively. By occupying the moral high ground, you imply your opponents are degenerates, without having to attack them directly. Audiences eat this stuff up.
All you have to do is claim you are truthful, moral, honest, etc., and by implication everyone else in the race is scum. Don’t forget: we are working on the subconscious level and there is no need to overtly attack the opposition. Subtly and implication are far more effective — and you walk away with clean hands while your opponents are left bloodied. Suckers Voters can’t get enough of this.
Physical mannerisms are equally important as what you say. Smile. Smile when they attack you. Smile when you are sticking in the knife. Chin up. Shoulders back. Self confident.
Because the list below quickly goes stale for anyone who has heard these lines more than a few times, it becomes necessary to occasionally come out with outlandish statements and proposals from time to time, in order to suck up maximum news cycle oxygen. Don’t worry about getting too extreme — that’s the idea. Then you can just walk it back (monopolizing even more of the news cycle), using diversionary tactics, your specialty.
Each of these phrases has been focus-group tested to ensure they are innocuous to at least 73% of the population in swing states, and statistically significant higher levels in red jurisdictions. These are especially effective when used with a younger demographic audience. Avoid mentioning the elderly, because polling reveals only low single-digit support among that demographic for Vivek’s blabber appeal to our higher virtues. Be sure to include terms such as: generational, my generation, our generation, millennials, young people.
“I think I’m the only person in this race — including Trump — who has the power and ability to inspire a new, young generation of Americans. “
Ramaswamy represents a throwback to an ancient era long ago. To the age of the Greek sophists, gifted of speech and skilled in rhetoric, they were prepared to debate on any matter, however specious. A great teacher, we are truly blessed to have this powerful leader and visionary walking among us. He possesses that rare ability, not seen since Professor Corey last walked the earth, to make the simple complex, and the clear inscrutable.
Ramaswamy’s bullshit aphorisms can be broken down into various broad categories:
AMERICA
National identity crisis
Revival of national character
Reviving our national identity
We have lost our sense of who we are
Leading a national revival
Second American Revolution
What it even means to be an American
The principles that made America itself, back in 1776
Rediscovering the radical ideals that unite us as Americans
Revive national pride
We must restore what is real over what is artificial to revive this nation
Saving our country is going to require all of us to think independently about the leaders we select
It’s a magic trick, but it’s not just hypocrisy, it’s actually
freakingwreaking havoc on American democracy
Our own positive vision for American national identity
COMPLEMENTS
That's a great question
That’s such a great point to clarify
I think you're asking all the right questions
That’s exactly right
You’re getting to the heart of it
COURAGE
I'm the only person on the stage who isn't bought and paid for
I'm the only one with the courage to tell you what's real
America actually standing up with a spine
I stand for that without apology
Fear is contagious, but courage can be contagious too
Moral authority
LEADERSHIP
The way a true leader should have handled that situation
I’m going to say some things that maybe are outside of the establishment-approved Overton Window
I think more deeply than probably anybody in this race
As U.S. President I would have made different judgements than Donald Trump made
I want to go even further than Trump
I will make you a promise, and you hold my feet to the fire if I don’t keep this promise to you
I’m not running to lead a political party. I’m running to lead a nation
I’m in this to lead our nation forward, not to be a political commentator
That is how you revive the integrity of a constitutional republic
When the people behave like sheep, that breeds a government of wolves
I’ve seen this first hand by the way; I’ve had a career as an investor; I’ve had a career as an entrepreneur
NATIONAL DECLINE
A leading indicator of a broader decay in a society
That deeper cancer in our country is that we are lost
We have lost our sense of purpose, we have lost our sense of identity, of who we are as Americans
We need to go upstream and fill that void with something deeper
A vision of American national identity that dilutes this poison to irrelevance
We need to find and revive our national identity
America is becoming less and less like itself
We live in a dark moment
That isn’t how America is supposed to work
Fostering a crisis of institutional mistrust in our country
A symptom of a deeper cultural malaise in this country
That’s what corporations are doing to my generation: preying on our moral insecurities
I think we really need something more substantial to fill that vacuum at the center of our nation’s soul, at the center of our nation’s identity, rather than just filling it with mixing up morality with the sandwiches you buy
PATRIOTISM
Ronald Reagan is the last good example
Our diversity is not our strength; our strength is what unites us across that diversity
Basic American principles that unite us across our differences
Unapologetically embrace America first
Embrace the gifts that god has given us
We come from different walks but are bound by a common creed.
The kinds of ideas of shared patriotism, shared faith, shared idealism that used to fill that moral vacuum
STARVATION
Hungry for meaning
Hunger for purpose and meaning
In fact we hunger for it
What’s going on with young people is we are hungry for a cause, we are starved for purpose and meaning
We’re turning to new secular religions, cults, instead
I’m a millennial. People my age and younger, we are hungry for a cause; we are hungry for a purpose; I think we’re hungry for identity
I think mixing morality with consumerism is actually the wrong way to fulfill that hunger
SOLUTIONS
That’s how we solve the problem.
It's being raised in a stable family with two parents
Go beyond traditional talking points
Actually dive deeper into the substance of the problem
TRUTH
The fact of the matter is
You know what is true
It's important to be transparent
And if you think about it
Let me actually speak directly to it
That’s the hard truth
We should be free to speak our minds
I’m unconstrained in speaking the truth
I speak the truth
I’d rather lose this race and speak truth at every step than win by saying what I’m “supposed to.”
This entire presidential campaign is about speaking the truth. Especially when it’s hard, when it’s uncomfortable.
Being far more honest than any politician that I know in the last 10 years
That tells me this has been politicized
There’s no “your” truth or “one” of “many truths.” It’s just the TRUTH. An undeniable reality.
So, the reality is that
That is a reality for many Americans today
The reality and the fact of the matter is
Here’s the truth
I’m bucking the trend because we have to speak the truth
Let me just address this transparently
And by the way, I want to be very clear about something
Things fall apart, the center can not hold.
. . . The best lack all conviction,
while the worst are full of passionate intensity. — Yeats
To be continued . . .