GOP presiential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy does Fox & Friends broadast at Potter's

Sue Willson of Potrer's House Bakery chats with presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy today. (Rochester Voice photos)

ROCHESTER - "Stop Wokeness, Vote Vivek" signs were all over Potter's House Bakery & Café today where tech guru and Woke warrior Vivek Ramaswamy did a live TV broadcast with Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade the morning after he announced his entry into the presidential race on Tucker Carlson Tuesday night.
Prior to the live broadcast around 8:20 a.m. Ramaswamy chatted with about 30 or so Granite Staters who showed up to see what the newest entrant into the growing Republican presidential field was all about.
They liked what they heard when Ramaswamy said America in 2023 has "an identity crisis."

VIVE VIVEK: Local residents hold signs in support of Vivek Ramaswamy's race for the GOP presidential nomination today at Potter's House Bakery & Cafe in Rochester

"If you look at someone in this country and ask them what does it mean to be an American you get a blank stare," he said. "If we can change that, we can defeat this woke culture. We need a revival of what it means to be an American, a revival of the American identity."
He said when he came to American as a first-generation immigrant from India he learned from his parents that if you "want to be outstanding you have to stand out."
He said we have to get back to a meritocracy where advancement is based on merit, not equity.
"If I was growing up now I don't know if I could have achieved like I did back then," he said.
Ramaswamy, 37, whose net worth is thought to be in the hundreds of millions, told The Rochester Voice, "We have to lose this climate religion, let's call it the climate virus."
He said right now we are allowing China, which manufactures and sells so much of the products the world needs, to pollute like a third world nation, while the Unites States is held to higher standards.
"China is making everything for us, and they don't have to abide by climate treaty rules," he said. "It serves as a constraint on us, I have a plan for decoupling from China."
He said if elected he would ban U.S. businesses from doing work in China. He has also said he would discontinue all affirmative action programs.
Ramaswamy was scheduled to take a short tour of the city with Rochester Mayor Paul Callaghan before moving to another event in Manchester tonight.