(Columbus) On the eve of the third Republican debate for the US presidential election, one of the candidates, Vivek Ramaswamy, said Tuesday that like Donald Trump, he would slam the door on the Paris Climate Agreement if elected .
“Yes, I would leave it,” declared the climate skeptic entrepreneur before voting in his state, Ohio, against the inclusion of the right to abortion in the local Constitution.
“I think climate change activism is based on a false premise,” said this political novice but darling of some conservatives.
Former Republican President Donald Trump, whom Mr. Ramaswamy steadfastly defends, withdrew from the Paris Agreement. His Democratic successor Joe Biden then announced, on the first day of his mandate, that his country would return.
So does Vivek Ramaswamy think climate change is a hoax? “Climate change activism is a hoax,” he responded.
“Are global surface temperatures increasing? Yes. Does this represent an existential threat to humanity? No,” he argued.
“And are policies restricting the use of fossil fuels actually making people worse off, more than climate change itself? Yes, that’s the real problem,” he insisted.
Mr. Ramaswamy has caused a sensation in recent months with deliberately provocative positions. He called for “unlocking America’s energy potential” in particular by “burning coal”, and described environmental activists as a “religious sect”.
“We should absolutely stay out of the Paris Climate Agreement and focus on human flourishing. Focus less on a particular metric of carbon emissions, and ask what advances human prosperity, human flourishing. That’s how I see it,” he said.
Not “policeman of the world”
Regarding Wednesday’s Republican debate in Miami, he said he hoped it would be “more constructive” than the previous ones, with the number of participants having decreased to five. Previous exchanges had often turned into cacophony.
And in the midst of the war between Israel and Hamas, Mr. Ramaswamy said he had a message.
“The job of the United States is to look after the interests of Americans here in the United States. This is the real division within the Republican Party,” he said.
“Everyone thinks it’s our job to be the world’s policeman. I don’t,” he added. And “I therefore hope that we will have a rich debate on this”.
Mr Ramaswamy, who made his fortune with a biotech company, issued an oath on Tuesday that anyone aspiring to join his government if elected must undertake to uphold. Called “No to the neo-conservatives”, it notably involves considering that avoiding a Third World War is “a vital national objective”.
Asked more specifically about the American position vis-à-vis the conflict in the Middle East, he considered that the United States must, “in terms of diplomacy, let Israel defend itself to the maximum” of its strength.
“This is what it means to stand with Israel. I think Israel should be free to do what it needs to do,” he continued.
PHOTO MEGAN JELINGER, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Regarding the right to abortion, on which his state of Ohio is voting on Tuesday under the scrutiny of the rest of the country, he said he was fiercely “pro-life”.
Finally, regarding the right to abortion, on which his state of Ohio is voting on Tuesday under the scrutiny of the rest of the country, he said he was fiercely “pro-life”.
Introducing this constitutional amendment on the protection of abortion “is not a good thing for the country, and I do not think it is a good thing for the State of Ohio,” he asserted. .