就在一天前的周二，当维维克·拉马斯瓦米在新罕布什尔州阿特金森登台时在结束总统竞选后他发表了热情洋溢的演讲。
事实上，拉马斯瓦米在向选民推销自己时曾多次发表过同样的演讲，但有一个例外:他用唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)取代了提及自己的内容。
在不到24小时的时间里，生物技术商人和保守派评论员拉马斯瓦米作为竞选活动中最对特朗普友好的“美国优先”替代方案在共和党领域，他退出了2024年的竞选，并支持他的前对手。
在新罕布什尔州，他与一位最近星期六-曾指责他“欺诈性的竞选伎俩”和不“杂志”
但周二他们之间看不到什么嫌隙。
“我们正处于这个国家的战争之中，”拉马斯瓦米说，描绘了一个分裂为“我们这些热爱美利坚合众国的人和讨厌这个国家和我们所代表的东西的边缘少数群体”的国家。
他说:“现在我们需要一位领导我们走向胜利的总司令。”
前总统很快回报了他。
特朗普说:“尽管我们彼此竞争，但我一直是他的朋友。”“但我是他的朋友，我们相处得很好...我不停地说，‘他为什么要跑?他一直称我为伟大的总统。但他是一个很棒的人，一个非常聪明的人。他有一些很棒的想法。"
拉马斯瓦米竞选活动的结束标志着他下一个篇章的开始:作为直言不讳的特朗普竞选代理人。
“他将与我们合作很长时间，”特朗普周二在人群中有人高呼“副总统，副总统，副总统”后表示。
共和党总统候选人、商人维维克·拉马斯瓦米在他的爱荷华州党团会议守夜派对上向支持者发表讲话。此前他暂停了竞选活动，并在德斯支持美国前总统唐纳德·特朗普...显示更多undefined
塞尔吉奥·弗洛雷斯/路透社
至少有一段时间，拉马斯瓦米似乎在爱荷华州和全国范围内获得了一些共和党选民的支持。他的竞选活动虽然最初很少受到关注，但帮助他在保守派中建立了越来越大的形象。
他看见了他的支持率达到顶峰8月23日的支持率约为11%，高于克里斯·克里斯蒂、妮基·黑利、迈克·彭斯和其他国家的支持率。
也是在第一场初选辩论的那一天，拉马斯瓦米站在特朗普一边，当被问及如果前总统被判有罪，他是否还会支持特朗普时，他的手举得比台上的其他候选人都长。(特朗普拒不认罪，否认所有不当行为。)
拉马斯瓦米的承诺成为他向选民推销的主要内容，甚至承诺如果特朗普入主白宫，他将继续担任顾问，如果不是副总统的话。
但是，最终还是发生了转变。尽管总体上仍对特朗普表示赞赏，但拉马斯瓦米开始将特朗普比作一名“受伤”的士兵，他说，“如果你想救特朗普”，爱荷华州人应该投票给他，以免陷入“深层州的陷阱”，他阴谋地声称，这将缩小淘汰特朗普的竞争，而支持海利。
竞争对手之间看似异常友好的关系仅仅两天就出现了摩擦在爱荷华州党团会议之前在拉马斯瓦米竞选团队分发了写有“拯救特朗普，投票给维韦克”的衬衫后。
特朗普为此追了他一把，在社交媒体上发文称此举“非常狡猾，但投票给维维克就是投票给‘另一方’——不要被这个骗了。投票给‘特朗普’，不要浪费你的选票!”
不过，这种裂痕是短暂的，因为特朗普在爱荷华州党团会议上取得重大胜利后，拉马斯瓦米迅速支持特朗普，周一晚上打电话祝贺他。
拉马斯瓦米告诉美国广播公司新闻:“我希望明天在新罕布什尔州与他会合，我认为我也希望在那之后与他一起参加竞选活动，因为我认为他成为下一任美国总统很重要。”
他承认，这不是拉马斯瓦米本人想要的结果。但到那时，他自己在民调中的势头已经消退，对观看了每场初选辩论的可能选民进行的538项调查显示，他引起了不同的反应.
根据538个平均数，截至党团会议日，拉马斯瓦米在爱荷华州的支持率仅为6.4%。
尽管如此，他的竞选团队吹嘘自己遭遇了“重大挫折”，他在爱荷华州的竞选活动也并不缺乏。
在近11个月的竞选活动中，他在该州举办了300多场活动，甚至搬到了得梅因，并在竞选结束时在许多活动中举办了大型演出。
直到党团会议前一天，他一直向选民坚称，无论他在爱荷华州的表现如何，他都将留在大选中。
然而，周一晚上，他告诉支持者们另一件事。
“我们从各个方面来看，我认为我们确实没有实现我们今晚想要实现的惊喜，”他在一次演讲中说，选举结果显示他远远落后于第四名。
在一次党团庆祝派对上与一些工作人员会面后，他暂停了竞选活动，后来告诉ABC新闻，退出竞选的决定是他和妻子阿波奥尔瓦·拉马斯瓦米博士做出的。
维韦克·拉马斯瓦米现在表示，他将尽“一切努力”在竞选中支持特朗普。
周一，他在谈到自己前往新罕布什尔州的选择时说:“如果不会是我——从今晚开始就很明显——我认为特朗普应该成为下一任美国总统，我会尽一切努力做到这一点。”
此前被问及是否会考虑担任特朗普的副总统时，拉马斯瓦米通常会说一些大意为“我爱这个人，但我只能在前线领导”的话，他周一早些时候对一名选民说。
但几个小时后，当被美国广播公司新闻采访时，他说他“会评估对这个国家的未来最有利的任何事情。”
他也不排除在2028年参选，他告诉ABC新闻，“我认为这一运动才刚刚开始。”
但是，他补充说，“谁将是推进这一议程的最佳工具?现在，这就是唐纳德·特朗普，为此我全力支持他。但“美国优先”不会在2028年结束。它不会在2032年结束。它还将持续250年，这就是我认为这个国家的未来。”
Ramaswamy ends 2024 campaign by quickly becoming Trump surrogate: 'Lead us to victory'
When Vivek Ramaswamy took the stage in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on Tuesday just one dayafter ending his presidential campaign, he gave a passionate speech.
It was the same speech, in fact, Ramaswamy had given on the trail multiple times when pitching himself to voters, but with one exception: He replaced the references to himself with references to Donald Trump.
In less than 24 hours, Ramaswamy, a biotech businessman and conservative commentator who campaigned as the mostTrump-friendly, "America first" alternativein the GOP field, dropped out of the 2024 race and endorsed his former opponent.
In New Hampshire, he appeared alongside the man who -- asrecently as Saturday-- had accused him of "deceitful campaign tricks" and not being "MAGA."
But there was little bad blood to be seen between them on Tuesday.
"We are in the middle of a war in this country," Ramaswamy said, portraying a country divided between "those of us who love the United States of America and a fringe minority who hates this country and what we stand for."
"And right now we need a commander in chief who will lead us to victory," he said.
The former president soon returned the favor.
"I've been a friend of his even though we were competing against each other," Trump said. "But I was a friend of his and we got along and ... I kept saying, 'Why is he running? He keeps calling me a great president.' But he's a fantastic guy, a very smart guy. He's got some tremendous ideas."
The end of Ramaswamy's campaign marked the beginning of his next chapter: as a vocal Trump campaign surrogate.
"He's going to be working with us for a long time," Trump said Tuesday after some in the crowd chanted "VP, VP, VP."
For a while, at least, it looked like Ramaswamy was gaining some traction with Republican voters in Iowa and nationwide. His campaign, while initially little watched, helped him build a larger and larger profile with conservatives.
He sawhis polling peakof about 11% on Aug. 23, which was then higher than the support for Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence and others.
That was also the day of the first primary debate when Ramaswamy stood out for standing by Trump, keeping his hand raised longer than any other candidates on stage when asked if he would still back Trump as the Republican nominee were the former president to be convicted of the charges he faces. (Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies all wrongdoing.)
Ramaswamy's commitment became a major part of his pitch to voters, even pledging to keep Trump on as an adviser, if not his vice president, if he reached the White House.
But, eventually, there was a shift. While still generally complimentary of Trump, Ramaswamy began to compare Trump to a "wounded" soldier, saying, "If you want to save Trump," Iowans should vote for him instead so as not to play into "the deep state's trap" of, he claimed conspiratorially, narrowing the race to eliminate Trump and prop up Haley instead.
What had seemed to be an unusually amicable relationship between the competitors hit a rough patch just two daysbefore the Iowa caucuses, after the Ramaswamy campaign handed out shirts reading "Save Trump, Vote Vivek."
Trump went after him for that, posting on social media that the move was "very sly, but a vote for Vivek is a vote for the 'other side' — don't get duped by this. Vote for 'TRUMP,' don't waste your vote!"
The rift was short lived though, as Ramaswamy quickly rallied behind Trump after Trump's big win in the Iowa caucuses, calling him in congratulations on Monday night.
"I expect to join him tomorrow in New Hampshire and I think that I will expect to join him on the campaign trail after that as well, because I think it's important that he becomes the next president of the United States," Ramaswamy told ABC News.
It wasn't the outcome Ramaswamy himself had sought, he acknowledged. But by then, his own momentum in the polls had faded, with 538's surveys of likely voters who watched each primary debate showing hedrew divisive reactions.
According to 538 averages, Ramaswamy was at just 6.4% in Iowa by caucus day.
Still, his campaign boasted of a "major upset," and his Iowa ground game was not lacking.
He held more than 300 events in the state over his nearly 11-month campaign, even relocating to Des Moines, and pulled a large showing at many events through the end of his bid.
He had insisted to voters up to the day before the caucuses that he'd stay in through the general election regardless of his performance in Iowa.
On Monday night, however, he told supporters something else.
"We looked at it every which way and I think it is true that we did not achieve the surprise that we wanted to deliver tonight," he said in a speech as the results were coming in that showed him in a distant fourth place.
He suspended his campaign after meeting with some of his staff at a caucus celebration party, later telling ABC News the decision to drop was one made by him and his wife, Dr. Apoorva Ramaswamy.
Vivek Ramaswamy now says he's going to do "everything" he can to support Trump in the race.
"If it's not going to be me -- and it's not, as of tonight that's clear -- I think that Trump should be the next president of the United States and I'm going to do everything that I can to make it so," he said Monday of his choice to head to New Hampshire.
When previously asked if he would consider a role as Trump's vice president, Ramaswamy would usually say something to the effect of "I love the man, but I can only lead from the front," as he told a voter earlier on Monday.
But hours later, when asked by ABC News, he said he "would evaluate whatever is best for the future of this country."
He did not rule out a run in 2028 either, telling ABC News, "I think that this movement is just getting started."
But, he added, "Who's going to be the best vehicle to advance that agenda forward? Right now, that's Donald Trump and he has my full support for that reason. But 'America first' doesn't end in 2028. It doesn't end in 2032. It goes for another 250 years, and that's what I think is ahead for this country."
