The 2024 Republican presidential primary is off to a bit of a slow
start.

Donald Trump and former governors Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson have
entered the race, but other likely candidates, such as Ron DeSantis and
Mike Pence, are still sitting on the sidelines.

Almost every Republican senator who flirted with the idea seems likely
to pass, with the notable exception of Tim Scott, who’s been making
stops in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Into this vacuum has come Vivek Ramaswamy, who stated his intentions in
a Wall Street Journal op-ed. He declared that he was running to forge
“an inspiring national identity that dilutes the woke agenda to
irrelevance.”

In a subsequent interview with POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman, Vivek added
that, “The GOP has a historic opportunity to answer the question of what
it means to be an American.” 

You probably don’t know much about Vivek Ramaswamy – he’s a young
entrepreneur from Ohio who’s never run for anything. But there are a few
reasons to keep an eye on him: 

1. He says he’s willing to spend millions of dollars of an estimated
half-billion dollar fortune on the race 
2. He’s a regular presence on the Fox News Channel, which is the top
information source for Republican primary voters
3. And he seems to be putting together a serious campaign made up of
political pros

Vivek swears he has a plan to break out of the single digits and take
down Donald Trump.

On this episode of Playbook Deep Dive, Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza
joins Vivek at the restaurant Art & Soul to learn whether he is
completely delusional —  or whether he just might be onto something.

Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.
Vivek Ramaswamy is a biotech entrepreneur and Republican presidential
contender. 
Afra Abdullah is an associate producer for POLITICO audio.
Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio. 
Alex Keeney is a senior producer for POLITICO audio.
Jenny Ament is the executive producer for POLITICO audio.