RD2WINAGNBEAR86 said:
Just learned that Ramaswamy wants to completely defund Israel by 2028. He also just wants to give Taiwan to China.
Both of these are dealbreakers for me. Vivek for now has dropped off my list.
Here's what he said:
IsraelWhile anti-Israel activists have long lobbied for ending U.S. military funding to the Jewish state, Ramaswamy said he supports Israel's continued security.
The candidate's stance on the military aid$3 billion a year, which Israel is largely required to spend on U.S.-manufactured equipmenthas changed several times over the past few months. This week, he told the
Washington Free Beacon that he supports ending the military funding once the current package passed by Congress expires in 2028, arguing that the aid will be unnecessary after he successfully negotiates new peace treaties between Israel and its Arab neighbors during the first year of his presidency.
"If we're successful, the true mark of success for the U.S., and for Israel, will be to get to a 2028 where Israel is so strongly standing on its own two feet, integrated into the economic and security infrastructure of the rest of the Middle East, that it will not require and be dependent on that same level of historical aid or commitment from the U.S.," Ramaswamy told the
Free Beacon on Saturday.
Ramaswamy describes his Middle East plan as "Abraham Accords 2.0," an expansion of the historic Trump-era deals cementing relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.
He said he would broker expanded agreements between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Indonesia, and believes he "can deliver that in my first year in office."
"Why is that important? That integrates Israel into the economic and security infrastructure of the rest of the Middle East, in a way that hasn't happened because Israel has been wrongfully held hostage over a complex historical Palestine question, from being able to integrate itself," he said. "Because Israel was isolated, that required years of the U.S. having to stand for our democratic ally, including in the form of military aid to Israel."
Taiwan
Taiwan produces about 60 percent of the global supply of semiconductors. China has claimed sovereignty over the island since 1949, after the nationalist party in the Chinese civil war fled there and declared independence from the mainland. Chinese President Xi Jinping has increasingly insisted on "reunification" with Taiwan, even suggesting through the use of force.
The U.S. maintains "strategic ambiguity" regarding Taiwan, refusing to specify whether it would militarily defend the island if China attacks. President
Joe Biden said last year that the U.S. would commit military force to Taiwan's defense, but the State Department tried to walk back his comments.
Ramaswamy told conservative radio host
Hugh Hewitt on Monday that he wanted to move to "strategic clarity" on Taiwan. He argued that
China only wants to invade Taiwan for two reasons: to control the semiconductor industry and to resolve the Chinese civil war.
Ramaswamy said, "Do not mess with Taiwan before 2028, before the end of my first term," when he believes he can achieve semiconductor independence in the U.S.
But "that commitment is only as far as 2028 … and we will not take the risk of war that risks Americans lives after that for some nationalistic dispute between China and Taiwan."