A recent brawl in downtown Cincinnati has gone viral and caused many to ask: was this racial violence, a sign of lax law enforcement, or something else? Ohio gubernatorial candidate and Cincinnati native Vivek Ramaswamy joins Glenn with his take, as well as his solution β¦
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Vivek is on the phone with us now. Hi, Vivek, how are you?
VIVEK: Glenn, how are you doing?
GLENN: I'm great. I'm great.
You know, you're following this, because you're running for governor. By the way, I hear you're doing really well, and happy to hear that.
VIVEK: Thank you.
GLENN: I see the city councilwoman, I see the police chief saying, well, you don't know all the facts. And I might not know all the facts. And even if there are more facts, it doesn't justify what we saw. But have you seen any other facts that -- that the public doesn't know about? On this beatdown?
VIVEK: Glenn, I think that the basic point is common sense.
We should not have everyday hard-working Americans who are afraid to go into their cities. Particularly cities like Cincinnati, for fear of being beaten up. For fear of assault. For fear of battery.
And I can speak to the victim Hawley who was assaulted.
I spoke to her on Monday. At the time, I had spoken to her, one of the things that surprised me is that she said not a single state or local official had even reached out to her, at that point in time.
And that was on Monday, after the Friday night of the incident, which is remarkable. And I reached out, because we wanted to be helpful, in any way. I mean, I saw she had some neck injuries. My wife is one of the top surgeons in the country here in Ohio.
So we want to see how we could help.
But I was surprised that, frankly, not a single public official at the city level or the state level had even reached out.
And I can see why, in part, because there is a culture of fear around these issues, relating to violence and urban crime, in particular.
GLENN: Wow.
VIVEK: In Cincinnati, so I grew up there. Was born and raised in Cincinnati. Lived the first 18 years of my life there. Went through public schools through eighth grade.
Public schools were there. Fights and stuff breaking out. I went to a Catholic school for high school after that. And I'll tell you, a number of the people I went to school with. Grade school.
High school, still living in Cincinnati. I live in Columbus now. But they're in Cincinnati.
Reach out, and say, thank you for saying something about this. Because we have noticed this issue. There is a culture of fear in our city. There's also a fear of people being able to go to the city without the risk of violent crime.
I think the risk for the stats right now, sadly are one and 137 is your chance of being a victim of violent crime.
GLENN: Wow.
VIVEK: So my view is, I don't care what Democrat or Republican Party is.
I don't care what your skin collar is. We have to unite around the issue of fighting violent crime in our cities. And this is in part, directly the result, I'm sorry to say, Glenn.
Bits true.
It's directly the result of this defund the police.
The anti-cop. The anti-rule of law culture.
That's spread across our country.
And I want a governor who is able to speak that truth in a matter that unites people, not divides people. But doesn't hide from that truth or sweep it under the rug either, because I think that will be required to address the problem.
GLENN: You know, as a whole society, we also have to start striving to be above animals.
I mean, you know, I watched this, and it was like watching fifth graders.
You know, everybody was standing around a fight, and everybody is like, fight, fight, fight. I mean, you're not in fifth grade anymore. I didn't see anybody. And this is what a civil society would do. I didn't really see anybody step in and go, hey, hey, hey, guys. Back up. Back up. Back up.
What I saw was people were people that were cheering it on. Or not involved, suddenly jumping in and getting involved. Which was terrifying.
When the female went down, I thought they killed her. I mean, she -- her eyes were opened.
She was out cold. That was a dangerous situation.
VIVEK: I've talked to her several times in the last week, Glenn. It has reset. She is a working mom. She is a single mother.
And she's somebody who, on a rare occasion, went to the city to have a good time for some of her friend's birthday party.
I think it's unconscionable, that not only after she was knocked out, she wasn't even able to take an ambulance. She had to call her own uber to get out of there. That situation of risk.
I think we have to think about ways we have to improve.
GLENN: Wait. Wait. Wait. What do you mean she couldn't take an ambulance?
VIVEK: Well, there wasn't an ambulance. She called an Uber.
And so this is the kind of thing that's just sad, and I do think that we ought to have an open conversation about, first of all, there's reports now, that one of the assailants was let out on bond, for a different crime or offense, alleged earlier this month.
So in the month of July. Earlier that same month, without on bond.
Without someone who previously was -- was convicted of other crimes.
And so we have to rethink some of the breakages in our system.
We have to rethink what it means to have more of a law enforcement presence on our street, at least in predictable hours, of when there's a baseball game going on.
When there's a national music concert, on a Friday night, in certain areas of urban parts of our city.
It doesn't mean that we deter crime by having this greater law enforcement presence.
And I think we have to have that conversation with somebody. And I think this is somebody who would be the first person to not only recognize, but shout out from the foothills.
There are so many good men and women, working really hard. Men and women in the Cincinnati Police Department, who I respect deeply for their service. It's not their individual fault by any stretch. And anybody who says so, misses the point.
But the point is: What kind of leadership do we bring to a city, to a state, that we do stand for not defunding the police. But funding the police.
That we stand for them to do their job. Without fear of looking over their shoulder, for being sued.
And also to be able to have a judicial system and necessary reforms that don't just send violent criminals right back on the street.
This is common sense stuff. Right? This shouldn't be left versus right stuff. Right?
This is common sense stuff.
That's why I'm running for governor.
I think we have too many politicians who try to sweep these issues under the rug for too long. I'm going to Cincinnati Monday, Glenn. Part of my point, is I want to practice what we preach.
I called a friend of mine, who is a former NAACP Cincinnati chapter president. A former vice mayor of the city, who actually has been quite thoughtful on a lot of these issues as well. We will co-host a town hall.
Anybody comes. You disagree with my politics, that's fine.
You can show up.
But we will have a conversation about how we crush crime, in my home town of Cincinnati.
And how we crush crime in cities across our state. And I hope Ohio sets the model, nationwide.
For putting an end to this epidemic of lawlessness and violence, and doing it in a way that brings us together, of open dialogue.
That's what I favor. So that's the kind of leader I'm hoping to be for our state. That's why I'm in this. And hopefully we are going to succeed.
I hope that does succeed. Because Cincinnati is a great town.
Just a great, great town, and I wouldn't go into Cincinnati now.
I wouldn't. Tell me, you know one of the reasons why I wouldn't?
Is not just because of what I saw in this video.
But reaction of one of the city council members. From the police chief.
Your governor. What do you say to that police chief?
VIVEK: Look, I've had conversations with all of these folks, one on one. Or not all of them. But many of them. And, look, I want to be a leader who is bringing together people across the state, whether they like me or not. Right? Whether they agree with my politics or not.
But what I will say is this, it's time for a new generation of leadership, that speaks hard truth, that speaks with a spine. As it relates to law enforcement. We need critical out of the box solutions. I mean, you think about even in the '90s. Clinton and Gingrich back then, talked about the idea of equipping with calories with cops to deter violence. And then leaving it to the localities after that.
Well, at the state level, should we think about similar solutions? I think we should at least have a conversation about that. Thinking about bail reforms, that leads in common sense ways, that we are not sending back violent criminals, right back into the streets, to be a repeat offender. Whether we know it's a high risk to -- the rest of ordinary law-abiding Americans, trying to have a good time in the cities where they live.
So I think these are issues where you have a lot of leaders, including governors. Including mayors. Who try to sweep these issues under the rug.
Hoping they will go away. That's not a strategy. It causes frustration to fester. And when people will have frustrations that they don't feel free to talk about, that's when actually bad things happen. That's what spurns social division. And I think true cohesion comes from being able to confront these issues head-on. And in Cincinnati, I don't know how it's going to go. I hope it goes well. But it's on Monday evening. But I think that -- I think I went to Springfield last year. Remember, Springfield, when it was in Ohio as well. The theme of national news.
And I would --
GLENN: So does Ohio have a bad history of race relations?
VIVEK: You know, it's not that Ohio has -- I mean, you brought up a great point.
You think about Ohio, we were the underground railroad. Cincinnati was the final destination. You think about a long enough course of history. Ohio was part of the Emancipation movement in the United States of America.
So has there been issues over time?
Sure, you go back to the early 2000s. There were racially charged riots in the city. The National Guard had to come out and do this, when I was in high school, etched into my brain. But that's true in different places across the country.
I think Ohio is a great place, actually to embody the best of what our country is about.
You go to Cincinnati. You go to Columbus.
You get a cross-section of the country, and more than California or New York, or even I may say, Glenn, even more than Texas or Florida.
The beautiful thing about Ohio is that we're a cross-section of the entire United States. So when we get these issues, right to the country.
Ohio ought to be ground zero for fixing it.
And that's what -- on the positive side. I wouldn't call it a particular history of trouble. But I think we are part of the country that's diverse enough, that in every sense. That you see a lot of these things bubbling up in Ohio.
GLENN: I have to tell you, you know, you would have talked to me, 30 years ago. And you would have said, this guy has a particular history of alcoholism.
And -- and hard to work with. And yada, yada.
I'm not that guy.
You just have to choose.
And an inspiring leader, DeSantis is one, here in Florida.
An inspiring leader.
Somebody who just says, no. We're going in a different direction.
People want to be safe.
They want to!
I don't care what color you are. What, you know, income bracket you are in.
You want to be safe. You want your family to be safe. Your children to be able to -- you want to be able to go into town.
And have a nice night. You don't want to feel all of this stuff.
And you don't want to have bad race relations. Some do.
But I think a very, very small number do.
And, you know, you can change things, if you are leading by example.
But it's going to be hard. Because there's a lot of people that have power, that don't want to fix these.
I'm convinced of it. They don't want to fix these problems.
VIVEK: Uh-huh. Well, that's why I'm in this, Glenn. If yesterday's politician was going to fix it, it would have happened already.
But I think it's going to take a new generation, that is like, I'm not even making this about Republican versus Democrat politics. You know, is there a dimension where we could? But forget about them.
Common sense, right?
Should you follow the law? Should you be able to enjoy your cities without fear of being beaten up or assaulted?
Should you be able to speak your mind freely in the open, without fear of government retribution?
These are the basic tenants of what it means to be an American, to live in the best country known in the history of mankind.
That's what it means to be American. I think it's the birthright of every American, to live those basic aspects of the American dream. And I want to at least revise the Ohio dream.
And the version of that in the heart of the country, that represents the country. And you're right. People are hungry to be led.
At this point, even if you tell your followers the same thing they want to hear. And it's easy to preach and lambaste the other side. I'm not doing that.
What I want to do is I want to speak truth. And there are a lot of people in the inner city of Cincinnati, who are every bit as worried about this epidemic of crime, that might have voted Democrat in the past, that still don't feel safe.
And the fact of the matter, we have an opportunity to bring them into our tent and our coalition as well.
That's what I'm working to do. And I think it's basic common sense, safety, a good education.
The economic mobility, and the right to speak freely. These your birthrights as Americans. And that's what we will fight for and revive here in the state of Ohio.
GLENN: Boy, I have to tell you, Vivek, thank you.
And, you know, if you've listened to me for a long time, I don't endorse people.
But I also don't lie to you, and tell you something. I don't pretend to be neutral, when I'm not. If I lived in Ohio, I would be voting for Vivek.
I think he's dynamic and part of a very bright future. VivekforOhio.com is his address, where you can find more about his candidacy and help him out as well.
Vivek, I would love to talk to you next week after you've had this meeting to see how it went.
VIVEK: Yeah. I'll tell you what we learned.
GLENN: Okay. Thank you very much. Vivek Ramiswami. Ohio gubernatorial candidate.