Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Roger Simon to comment upon the presidential announcement of GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Leahy: We are delighted to welcome to our microphones this morning all-star panelist, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, my former boss at PJ TV, and also now the most popular columnist at The Epoch Times. And, oh, did I mention novelist and writer of books, Mr. Roger Simon? Good morning, Roger.
Simon: I embellish my resume because I’m not always the most popular columnist. (Laughter) Speaking of embellishing resumes, on the other hand, you know, I’m pretty confident.
Leahy: But hey, I got a question for you. This guy, Vivek Ramaswami, announced on Tuesday night on Tucker Carlson that he’s running for President of the United States. He’s worth between $500 million and $5 billion. I think it’s probably closer to $5 billion. He’s 37 years old, a Harvard undergrad, Yale Law, and founded a biotech firm that he sold.
Simon: Are you trying to make me feel bad talking about resumes? I thought mine was okay.
Leahy: I think also he’s an accomplished piano player and pianist, and also, I think he was a nationally-ranked junior tennis player. You’re a tennis guy. This is an impressive individual. As you know, I spent an hour with him in a one-on-one well; he was there. His wife was there and the communications director at his residence.
Simon: What about his kids?
Leahy: His kids were not there, or I didn’t they were probably in the house. He’s got a three-year-old and a six-month-old. I saw their little toys, et cetera, in the backyard. But I spent an hour with him before I knew that he was going to make the announcement. He was embargoed, but he’s a very interesting fellow.
And you quickly were able to get a brief interview with him, and you wrote a column about his campaign for president. He’s now the third announced candidate on the GOP side. Trump has announced, Nikki Haley’s announced, and now Vivek Ramaswamy.
Simon: Ramaswamy. You had to learn how to pronounce that if you’re not Anglo-Indian. I think he’s kind of an amazing person to be running for president, and probably has the highest IQ that may have ever run for president. Although Washington himself, if you read his writings, was pretty extraordinary and may really rival that.
But I think that someone with that high an IQ is a double-edged sword to it because it’s slightly intimidating. But he seems like a very good man.
Leahy: I can tell you that, despite all those great accomplishments, he’s just a very friendly person who’s not at all an intimidating presence when you’re there with him. And by the way, and you’ll see this, his wife is very pretty, and she’s also Indian American. She’s a medical doctor who specializes in treating cancer patients. She’s a surgeon. These are two very impressive people.
Simon: Seems like it.
Leahy: And very genuine, very genuine people.
Simon: He’s doing this for the right reason, and I wish Sean Hannity would have been a little more awake to it, but he makes curious admissions. One of his admissions is he never talks about the CIA and his investigations. I don’t know why, because they’re probably the most…
Leahy: Did Sean do a run down last night on the presidential campaign and not mention Vivek?
Simon: And he ran down all what we like to call the Munchkins on this show including Tim Scott, who was there that night.
Leahy: He hasn’t announced.
Simon: He hasn’t announced and who already has the gravely voice of someone who’s spoken so much in public he can’t barely speak anymore because he was in Iowa, of all places.
Leahy: That’s where it all starts. And as you know, we launched The Iowa Star a couple of weeks ago because the road to the 2024 GOP nomination goes through The Iowa Star.
Simon: I know it very well because back in 2016, I did the thing for PJ Media, The Diary of the Mad Voter, and I was all over Iowa a lot.
Leahy: Anyway, speaking of which, Vivek, or I got to get it. They told me how to pronounce it. Vivek as in cake. He was in New Hampshire yesterday. Today he’s in Iowa, and literally, he’s all over the state. I think he’s got a private plane. He’s flying from Des Moines to Ankeny and back.
Simon: He must be putting his own money into this at this point.
Leahy: My guess would be probably going to put $100 million in would be my guess. But our own Matt Kittle from The Iowa Star has an exclusive interview planned with him in Des Moines later today. Non-embellished resumes here folks.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Vivek Ramaswamy” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
