Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons

On the heels of the presidential election, former 2024 Republican U.S. presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy LAW ’13 voiced support for President-elect Donald Trump and highlighted issues at the forefront of the conservative party at his recent visit to Yale.

In an interview with the News, Ramaswamy said that he has spoken to both Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance LAW ’13 — a former classmate — since they won Tuesday’s election and that he has been “closely involved” with Trump’s transition efforts. Ramaswamy has teased the possibilities of either running for Vance’s to-be vacant Ohio senate seat or a governorship, and suggested that he may be offered a seat in Trump’s administration. During his short-lived presidential bid, Ramaswamy aligned himself deliberately with Trump’s record.

“The most important issue we need to discuss as a country right now is actually embracing a culture of free speech,” Ramaswamy said during his keynote address for the Buckley Institute. He further emphasized the immediate importance of preserving the “principle of merit” and tightening the country’s borders. 

Ramaswamy was the keynote speaker at the Buckley Institute’s 14th annual conference, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Woodward Report, which defines Yale’s free expression policies. He later visited Shabtai, the Jewish society of which he was a member, and played tennis with Roee Benya ’27 the following day.

His keynote address covered what the future of the conservative party could look like, noting a “fork in the road” between small-government and big-government conservatism. 

“Do we want to replace the left-wing regulatory state with the right-wing regulatory state or do we want to get in there and actually dismantle the regulatory state?” asked Ramaswamy. 

Ramaswamy advocated for the answer of “shut it down,” which was met with cheers. He articulated that this would embody the founding American ideals of 1776 and the principles of excellence and merit. 

Ramaswamy further celebrated Trump’s victory, adding that the country is on the doorstep of an “American revival.” 

Buckley Institute President Trevor MacKay ’25 highlighted his appreciation for Ramaswamy’s focus on encouraging students to give Trump’s administration a chance in governance. 

“I think it is important to remember that despite our differences, our future is together,” MacKay wrote. 

Ramaswamy noted that the Democratic Party is in need of self-reflection, saying that the politics of the Democratic presidential nomination illuminated one lesson.

“When you put somebody in a job because of their race and gender, it always ends up a disaster,” he said, referring to Democratic candidates Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Ramaswamy said that a Trump administration would bring a secured border, economic growth and a revival of national pride that would prevent “World War III.” He specifically voiced support for Trump’s plan for the largest mass deportation in the country’s history. 

This stance led to loud booing from the audience followed by cheers.

In response to the booing, Ramaswamy said, “The beauty of this country, back to free speech, is that’s allowed. That’s a beautiful thing.”

Henry Liu ’28, who was in attendance at the event, described Ramaswamy’s stance on mass deportation as “worrying” and “overly broad.” 

Liu noted that the booing was a reminder to him that “most” students do not support ideas as “extreme” as mass deportations.

“The Buckley Institute has never worried about brief, minor reactions to comments from speakers … when an audience member booed at Vivek Ramaswamy when he mentioned deporting illegal immigrants we didn’t consider that audience response out of line either,” wrote MacKay. 

Ramaswamy later doubled down on his stance that the incoming administration needs to “restore the rule of law” in the U.S.’s immigration system — a directive that he believes should include deporting individuals who entered the U.S. illegally. Ramaswamy declined to answer the News’ question on whether he would also be in support of deporting American-born children of undocumented immigrants, a policy he proposed on the campaign trail that might violate the 14th amendment, which is usually interpreted as guaranteeing birthright citizenship.

Liu told the News that he wished Ramaswamy had addressed his “more controversial stances” at the dinner, including ending birthright citizenship. 

Ramaswamy hits the courts 

Ramaswamy’s Saturday game with Benya took up his last few hours on campus. Ramaswamy has played tennis since he was 10 years old and told the News that though he did not play varsity tennis while an undergraduate at Harvard, he would have ranked “a little bit higher than the last guy on the team.” 

Ramaswamy brought his own tennis balls to the match and was accompanied by a security official and social media videographer, though he claimed to dislike being photographed. He believes that social media “comes with the territory” of being a player in American politics.

“You want to reach positive people with your message, you have to open up who you are to them,” Ramaswamy said. “The things that are a necessity, you have to do — play the game — and it forces you to engage with different kinds of people.”

Ramaswamy said that it felt “pretty sentimental” to be back at Yale, especially at Shabtai. Ramaswamy was a member of Shabtai, and he and his wife Apoorva Ramaswamy ’11 MED ’15 hosted satellite events for the society in their Manhattan apartment. He once referred to Rabbi Shmully Hecht, the society’s founder, as among his “closest friends alive.”

A former biotech executive with a net worth of around a billion dollars, he said that he has donated to Shabtai and had previously considered donating to the University.

“I think I was close to donating to law school, years ago, before I got really concerned about the director,” he said. “I was really concerned about the loss of free speech. The free speech culture of the law school was something that concerned me, and I didn’t want to be inadvertently signaling my approval for a culture that I didn’t actually approve of.”

Nonetheless, Ramaswamy has kept up with a few professors at the Law School — particularly professors Jed Rubenfeld and Amy Chua, the latter of which introduced him at the Buckley dinner. Ramaswamy described most of his professors as “super sharp” regardless of their political leanings.

After his address to the Buckley Institute, Ramaswamy answered questions on the connection between Yale Law School and the emergence of himself, Vance and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley LAW ’06 as leaders of the modern Republican Party. 

“You get a better education when you’re challenged,” said Ramaswamy, referencing being in the intellectual minority as a conservative at Yale. 

Ramaswamy graduated from Harvard College in 2007. 

Nora Moses contributed reporting.