Just a generic “Ohio” polo provided to me by my business partners

August 26, 2024 12:56 PM

Operation Desperado: The long con of Vivek Ramaswamy A local muckraker who covers the Ohio state legislature plays a long con on the former presidential candidate.
posted by slogger (22 comments total)

“I can thank this business for giving me a new kink centering around when politicians show me that they are even dumber than I initially thought.”

posted by box at 12:58 PM on August 26 [6 favorites]

Holy cow this is marvelous.
posted by suelac at 1:03 PM on August 26

JFC is that amazing.
posted by Ickster at 1:11 PM on August 26

Any confrontation with a prominent Republican that ends with Masturbating Shrek being involved is golden in my book.
posted by delfin at 1:12 PM on August 26 [5 favorites]

I had to back out of the article before the meeting - I get such secondhand embarrassment from other people's embarrassment.

URGH and then thinking about the blog owner actually having to pull up to the Cane's on Olentangy River Road. Someone tell me how it all came out. I'll be cringing in the corner for everyone involved.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 1:16 PM on August 26 [9 favorites]

having to pull up to the Cane's on Olentangy River Road

…on their bicycle!
posted by Big Al 8000 at 1:19 PM on August 26 [3 favorites]

Come for the Vivek, stay for the Kid Keitel Chittels (that IS Harvey Keitel plastered on Kid Rock is it not?) Also the delicious Trotsky paper purchase. Hehehe
posted by symbioid at 1:40 PM on August 26

So tOSU football team is not populated by polisci majors?
posted by riverlife at 1:43 PM on August 26

not before he bought a Trotskyist newspaper for $5
posted by doctornemo at 1:52 PM on August 26

Jesus Christ, how bad is his security? This seems like a really good way to get kidnapped or worse.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:52 PM on August 26 [1 favorite]

So tOSU football team is not populated by polisci majors?

Maybe Vanderbilt?
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:53 PM on August 26

Hahaha, the GOP has a really deep bench, don't they?
posted by rikschell at 2:13 PM on August 26

More of a deep couch, I think.
posted by SPrintF at 2:29 PM on August 26 [12 favorites]

I wonder how well this would work to get Jonald Chump into some remote, open location. You know he's vulnerable to ego-stroking and terrible at listening to his handlers.
posted by egypturnash at 3:26 PM on August 26 [1 favorite]

Reminds me of another Republican presidential hopeful.
posted by MtDewd at 4:54 PM on August 26

This seems like a really good way to get kidnapped or worse.

Imagine wanting to kidnap Vivek Ramaswamy.
posted by cortex at 6:12 PM on August 26 [12 favorites]

As a former Columbus resident, I do have to tell y'all that this isn't a remote location at all. It's close to OSU campus and the Oval (stadium), not far from downtown, on a major road, almost centrally between two of the area's major hospitals which are both pretty much on this road, blah blah blah. Mildly sus because it's not the Oval or other official OSU property, but not all that sus, because it's a few blocks away up the road! He explains the sus things in the post itself -- what an assistant would have done due diligence on.
posted by verbminx at 6:23 PM on August 26 [2 favorites]

This is a pretty straightforward prank, rendered somewhat less enjoyable by pretending it uncovered something meaningful (narcissism and stupidity) as opposed to merely embarrassing an unpleasant human. I don't object to anyone pranking Ramaswamy, and it left me with a low opinion of Ramaswamy, but mostly because I started with a low opinion of Ramaswamy. Mostly just a politician showed up at a photo-op and also wasn't a big enough Ohio State fan to pick up supposed "red flags" in a short text message.
posted by mark k at 7:02 PM on August 26 [3 favorites]

I'm not really that impressed. Every state probably thinks that its flagship university football coach is a big deal, and this guy seems to think that Ramaswamy should be familiar with Day's personal schedule. He dropped out of the race three months before this, and if he had any campaign cash left, he probably wasn't going to hire someone to research every place that wanted him as a speaker. (Sarah Palin was notorious for delivering the exact same rubber chicken speech at $100K a pop at the height of her post-race fame.)

On the other hand, I got this from Ramaswamy's Wikipedia page:

While in college, he performed Eminem covers and libertarian-themed rap music under the stage name and alter ego "Da Vek"

So screw 'im.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:50 PM on August 26 [6 favorites]

For those not "sportsball" oriented, there is now a whole genre of "Famous Personage Giving Pep Talks" to teams that various sportsball networks run to fill the endless hours of sportsball infotainment. Vivek probably thought he was auditioning for one of these types of "fake events". Ohio State opens the season against Akron next week.
And, btw, Vivek has always reminded me of the character "Exeter" from "This Island Earth".
posted by pthomas745 at 9:56 PM on August 26 [2 favorites]

More of a deep couch, I think.

Lovesac baby.
posted by srboisvert at 4:34 PM on August 27 [4 favorites]

This seems like a really good way to get kidnapped or worse.

Imagine wanting to kidnap Vivek Ramaswamy.

This plot is already a TVTrope: Pity the Kidnapper
posted by srboisvert at 4:36 PM on August 27 [1 favorite]