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Vivek Ramaswamy teases role in Trump’s second administration: ‘Some great options’
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Vivek Ramaswamy teases role in Trump’s second administration: ‘Some great options’

Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has teased a possible role in Donald Trump’s future Cabinet, saying he has “some great options” in front of him.

The biotech CEO appeared on ABC’s This week on Sunday, where Jonathan Karl asked him if he will be part of a second Trump administration, one where the Trump transition team is believed to be targeting political appointees who value loyalty to Trump above all else.

Ramaswamy dodged the exact role he might play but confirmed he was having “high-impact discussions” about his way forward.

“There are some great options on the table,” Ramaswamy said, as Karl mentioned both the soon-to-be vacant Senate seat in Ohio, currently occupied by newly elected Vice President J.D. Vance, and the position of Homeland Security director. .

“I want to have the greatest possible impact on this country,” he added.

It is largely believed that the two options Karl is referring to are the two prizes Ramaswamy is most likely to aim for. He remained largely deferential to Trump during his election campaign and had clearly been eyeing an alliance with the former president since the Iowa caucus results in January made clear that the former president would bulldoze his way to the nomination.

Ramaswamy, in his own campaign, focused resources on Iowa in an effort to make a surprise early showing, one that would generate a snowball effect of support. It never came true.

Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy dodged his future plans on ABC's This Week
Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy dodged his future plans on ABC’s This Week (The independent)

As director of the Department of Homeland Security, Ramaswamy would be responsible for implementing and developing the details of Trump’s immigration policy. The former president vowed last summer to launch America’s first mass deportation program in modern times, aiming to remove a million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally if re-elected.

In Ohio, meanwhile, Ramaswamy may have a more direct route to building his own political star. His home state has turned increasingly red in recent election cycles, largely because Democrats at the DNC and elsewhere in Washington wrote the state off as a lost cause in the presidential races. The party has now also lost two Senate races in Ohio in as many election cycles.

With Vance’s election to the vice presidency, his Ohio seat will become vacant in January and the state’s Republican governor will fill it with an appointment. A special election will then be held in 2026 to determine who will complete Vance’s term.

As a senator, Ramaswamy could build his own political brand in the Senate, free from the burden that comes with the prospect of becoming the face of Trump’s immigration and border control policies in the coming years — among other duties. But in return, Ramaswamy would have to rebuild his fundraising apparatus to the point where he could defeat a Democratic candidate in 2026, though it’s doubtful how competitive that race would even be.

Ramaswamy, one of the Republican Party’s few truly young national figures, is better positioned than most to build his brand over the next four years.

Having never really emerged as a rival to the president-elect, as Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis did during the primaries, Ramaswamy could soon find himself in the spotlight.