Vivek Ramaswamy reveals ‘dirty little secret’ behind corporations’ political agenda
The GOP presidential candidate discusses his new book ‘Capitalist Punishment’
2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, an outspoken critic of U.S. corporations pushing liberal ideology, is using the proceeds from his new book to help the organization Color Us United fight for a "race-blind America."
Ramaswamy’s "Capitalist Punishment: How Wall Street Is Using Your Money to Create a Country You Didn't Vote For" hit book retailers on Tuesday and the GOP presidential hopeful hopes to sell a boatload of copies. However, the proceeds won’t be going toward his costly campaign, or into his own wallet.
"I'm not in this business of writing books to make money for myself. I'm doing it to have an impact," Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital.
"I'm donating all of my personal proceeds to a nonprofit called Color Us United. I've actually gotten to know the founder of that group pretty well, and they're helping out a victim of discrimination, politicized, really racial equity-based discrimination," Ramaswamy said. "Color Us United stands for this idea of reviving merit and the idea that you ought not be judged by the color of your skin, but on the content of your character and contributions. That's part of what we've lost with these ESG [Environmental, social, and governance] values that have been foisted onto corporate America."
2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, an outspoken critic of "woke" corporations, is using the proceeds from his new book to help Color Us United fight for a "race-blind America." ((AP Photo/Alex Brandon))
EX-AMERICAN EXPRESS EMPLOYEE SPEAKS OUT ON ‘WOKE’ CORPORATE AMERICA: ‘SHAME ON YOU’
Nick Williams, a White male, worked at American Express for over eight years, where he was an Iowa-based manager of business development until he was suddenly let go in March 2021. He says he turned down a six-figure settlement offer because he refused to sign paperwork barring him from speaking out against the credit card juggernaut because "what's happening in woke corporate America" is not acceptable.
Williams previously told Fox News Digital that he was terminated after he told a Black, female small business owner that she couldn’t obtain a corporate AMEX card without the necessary documents, such as articles of incorporation and three months of utility bills. The incident occurred during the coronavirus pandemic, and they had never met face-to-face, so he had "no idea" the business was owned by a minority. The business owner grew agitated, and Williams says she mistreated his colleague – who happened to be Black, too – so he informed the business owner she was "cut off" because her behavior wouldn’t be tolerated.
Williams said he was let go shortly afterwards. He believes American Express was fearful of a lawsuit and simply wanted to offer services to as many minority-owned businesses as possible as part of its ongoing diversity efforts. He also explained that American Express had begun awarding raises based on diversity, instead of performance, around the time of the company’s diversity push and provided Fox News Digital with an internal document indicating that "diversity representation" was a metric considered for incentive awards.
Color Us United president Kenny Xu, the author of "An Inconvenient Minority," has launched the "UnAmerican Express" campaign urging investors of the credit card company to distance themselves from American Express until "woke policies" cease to exist. Xu, who has been helping Williams share his story, plans to use the proceeds from Ramaswamy’s book to help Williams fight back against the credit card juggernaut and other Color Us United initiatives.
Williams has said that when he was still working for American Express, he saw the issues that Color Us United fights against occur firsthand. For example, when putting an emphasis on "diversity," the company replaces White males with African-Americans, which goes against the notion of meritocracy that both Xu and Ramaswamy believe in.
"This is not some anti-woke crusade alone, actually far from it. This is about standing for basic ideals that unite us," Ramaswamy said. "I've lived the full arc of the American dream. I'm now in a phase of my own life thinking about how I can use that success to actually drive positive change in the country, so that the next generation, my kids’ generation, is able to enjoy the same dream that I did, starting from nothing, ending up living the full arc of success."
Ramaswamy feels his latest book, "Capitalist Punishment," gets to the heart of the matter affecting Americans such as Williams.
"It relates to actually how Wall Street is using the money of everyday citizens across this country to vote for agendas in corporate America's boardrooms that A - most Americans don't agree with, and B, which don't even serve the financial interests of those Americans," he said.
"So, what's going on is there's these three large financial institutions BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard. They manage about $20 trillion. That's about as much as the US GDP, and that's just the top three," Ramaswamy continued. "And that's how they foist these environmental and social agendas, effectively woke policies onto corporate boardrooms."
Ramaswamy said the book, which he wrote before deciding to run for president, details the "dirty little trick" American companies are using to use the money of everyday citizens to push a liberal agenda.
"They're using the money of everyday citizens, your money, to do it and I think that deserved to be exposed," he said.
"I also think it's important for each of us to do our part to push back against this trend, but more importantly, revive our shared national identity as Americans."
Color Us United bills itself as "an organization created to speak out against those who want to divide America" whose primary purpose if to give a voice to anyone "upset by government, corporate and media claims that America is a hateful country."
"Color Us United isn't just an organization that talks the talk, but it also walks the walk and helps people who are in need of pushing back against these toxic agendas as well."
An American Express spokesperson previously denied Williams’ claim about his termination.
"Mr. Williams is spinning a false narrative of possible reasons--other than his own misconduct--for his involuntary termination from American Express. We are committed to complying with all laws and regulations, and do not tolerate misconduct. If we identify potential misconduct, we thoroughly investigate and will take appropriate actions, including and up to termination," the American Express spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
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An American Express spokesperson also previously told Fox News Digital that the company has "not laid off employees for any so-called diversity push" and "employment decisions are based on, among other things, business needs and performance."
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