At the Turning Point Action Conference in Detroit, Michigan, on Friday, Vivek Ramaswamy took voters' questions.
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NewsTranscript
00:00How can we get you to come to Pennsylvania?
00:23Well look, consider the invitation accepted.
00:26And I've already told you about it.
00:29We did some grassroots voter localization already after I dropped out of the race.
00:34Come just right now, you've got me held my feet to the fire. You have my commitment.
00:38Pennsylvania is a must. We've got to do it.
00:40If this election is going to be won by racers in margins, we don't want to show up on November 6th.
00:46Wake up that morning and ask ourselves, what else could I have done today?
00:53Ask yourself that question now.
00:55And now is your time to answer it.
00:57Answer that not on November 6th, but answer it today.
00:59I'm going to do the same thing and I'll see you at the end.
01:04Vivek, good to see you.
01:06I'm a pastor from Iowa.
01:08You were in a fabulous campaign in Iowa.
01:10God bless you, God bless your family.
01:13I'm also a missionary in Armenia.
01:15And I noticed that you have spoken about Armenia.
01:18I was a witness to the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh, Artsakh.
01:23And the desecration of the oldest Christian churches in the world.
01:28It's the oldest Christian nation.
01:30How are we as the United States going to get behind persecuted Christians in places like the South Caucasus and the Middle East?
01:40How can we do that?
01:42And how can we stand for freedom and liberty and justice for our country?
01:49And allow these Christians to be persecuted the way they have been in places such as Armenia?
01:56Thank you, Pastor.
01:57Good to talk to you again.
01:59I'm glad you're raising this because I want to answer this in a way that really clarifies the answer.
02:04Because you might hear about this.
02:05I was the only presidential candidate who spoke about this because it's important.
02:08There's 120,000 Armenian Christians who were displaced from their homeland in the Artsakh region.
02:14Does that mean that we should be going to war and fighting somebody else's war for their border?
02:19As I'm opposing in Ukraine, we shouldn't be doing it in Armenia either.
02:22But actually, here's the dirty little secret.
02:25It's actually the U.S. taxpayer, all of us, who is funding Azerbaijan to actually do it.
02:34That's the ugly underbelly of the whole thing is our own taxpayer dollars are paying for it.
02:40So the irony is that everybody who somehow in the Ukraine caucus,
02:44which is the most popular political party in the United States of America apparently,
02:47doesn't have a peep to say about actually the real human rights travesty that we're responsible for funding.
02:56So here's my belief. It's controversial, but I'll say it anyway.
02:59The first and sole moral duty of U.S. elected leaders is actually to the citizens of the United States of America.
03:09And we stand with our allies by not funding the very people who are trampling over them.
03:15And you have 120,000 reasons for me to continue to talk about this issue as I will,
03:20and I'm hoping to travel to Armenia later this year to actually make a point.
03:23So thank you, my friend.
03:24I'll invite you to come with me.
03:25I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Great to see you.
03:29What besides praying is the most important thing we young people can do for our country?
03:37I'll give it to you. How old are you, says young people?
03:40I'm 14.
03:41You're 14 years old. Give this woman a round of applause.
03:48That's a great question.
03:52So I'll tell you, right now I think we have a culture of fear in this country.
03:57Spread like an epidemic, faster than COVID-19.
04:01All 60 directions. COVID maybe will spread a little bit off this way.
04:04Fear spreads off in directions.
04:08Here's my ask of you.
04:11When you find yourself in a room and you are the only person who believes what you do,
04:18I'm going to ask you today to stand up and say it.
04:22Say it with a smile.
04:24And say it with commitment.
04:26But part of respecting your neighbor and your friends is to tell them what you actually believe.
04:32And if you do that, you know what?
04:33Fear has been infectious, but courage can be contagious in this country.
04:36It just requires more people like you to actually step up and show it.
04:41So yes, pray, number one.
04:42And number two, speak your mind and don't apologize to anybody for it.
04:46That's really what it means to be a young American.
04:48Thank you.
04:57I'm a longtime fan, a longtime supporter.
04:59I'm 18 years old.
05:00I'm here from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
05:02And seeing your passion, seeing your drive is just so encouraging to a youngster like me
05:07when they want to be on the stage like you.
05:09Encouraging young Americans, young and old in this country just like you.
05:13And my question for you as a Christian, in the political landscape, in the political arena,
05:20how can the Christian Church of America, which is so important to revitalizing the American dream,
05:25how can we get involved?
05:27What are good ways?
05:28So look, I think this is such an important question as I talk about individual, family, nation, and God.
05:35It's not a four-letter word.
05:37And part of what's happened is the same way we apologize for our own nation in the United States of America,
05:43I think a lot of Christians have been taught to apologize for who they are or what their faith actually is.
05:49That's part of the reason.
05:50The question about Armenia, the last guy who was standing where you are,
05:53the reason you don't hear about the Armenian human rights catastrophe is because the victims in that case are actually Christian.
05:59And the reality is you need to stop apologizing for your beliefs.
06:03We all need to.
06:04I'm Hindu. You know this.
06:07I believe in one true God.
06:09I believe he puts us here for a purpose.
06:11But I will say it's a lot harder to be any faith than any other faith that's harder to be today in the United States
06:16is to actually be Christian.
06:18Because you're taught that you're supposed to apologize for your beliefs, and I reject that.
06:22Our founding fathers rejected that.
06:24And so part of this is that it requires some sacrifice, even when it's not popular to say.
06:29Tell people why you believe in God.
06:31Tell people why you believe in Christ.
06:34Tell people why you live the life the way you actually do, and embody that by example.
06:39And here's what I see, especially young people.
06:41You said you're 18?
06:42A lot of young people are quietly hungry for something bigger.
06:46They've been served social media algorithms.
06:48They've been served other religions.
06:51Wokeism.
06:52Transgenderism.
06:54Climatism.
06:55Covidism.
06:56Globalism.
06:57Fauciism.
06:59You guys break down the list.
07:01These are, the climate religion in particular.
07:04Why do you see people bending the knee to a bit of fun word being some type of modern Joan of Arc thing?
07:09It's because if you stop believing in God, you're going to believe in some other false idol instead.
07:14You might as well believe in the real thing.
07:17And I would ask you to make sure you're expressing your beliefs to allow other people the permission to express theirs too.
07:23Thank you, Michael. I appreciate it.