Out the aforementioned, Vivek Ramaswamy, kind enough to join us right now. Vivek, always good to see you. How are you doing? Doing well, Neil. How are you? Very good. Let me ask you a little bit. I was touching on this with Bob Cusack. This is not the first time, but you've been critical of Governor Kim Reynolds and I. She's very, very popular. You've also been critical of Governor Chris Sunnu in New Hampshire. He, too, very popular. We called him the face of the establishment. I'm just wondering, doesn't that hurt you? How is that helping you?

I want to be really clear. I've actually been very complementary of Governor Reynolds, but there is one key issue that does matter to a lot of Iowans, Neil, that not a single Republican candidate has had the guts to speak for except for me and not a single even member of the Iowa establishment has spoken about, which is the carbon dioxide capture pipeline. They're building pipelines, capturing CO2 across farmers' land, now potentially using eminent domain to even run that pipeline across land that Iowa farmers don't want to allow across their land. People I'm meeting across the state are livid about this, Neil. This is a major issue for the grassroots. I'm the only candidate daring to even touch it. I'm not one of these people that believes that just somebody's automatically 100% correct or 100% wrong on everything. I've praised Kim Reynolds plenty for education policy, for school choice, and otherwise, but she's wrong to hide from this issue. The Iowa grassroots understand that. I think because I'm speaking to many of those issues that other candidates are not, I think that's going to be a major sign of a surprise coming in that Iowa caucus.

Well, you got a surprising and a very strong response from many Iowans, some farmers who were unaware of this. I certainly was unaware of this, but I'm just wondering then how that plays out. Is this going to be your focus then for these remaining 50-odd days before the caucuses?

It's certainly one of the issues that I'm focused on. It's important to many Iowans here standing up to the global climate religion has been one of my core issues even long before I ran for President. This is near and dear to my heart. But, Neil, I think more broadly, my brand here with the Iowan, Grassroots, is what I started this campaign with. Speak the truth not just when it's easy, but when it's hard. Speak the truth not just to the Democrats on the other side, but to our own failures in our own Republican party right here at home. One of the things we're seeing on the ground, Neil, is that many of the people coming to our events supporting me, and I think this is to my candidacy, have never participated in a caucus before. Many of them are young. So if they turn out for the caucus as they're signaling to us, they will at a large scale. I think we're going to deliver a major surprise on January 15th, shatter the expectations that have been set. And I'm doing about 200 events between mid-November and the Iowa Caucus. It's like the full grassley, almost times two.

So I think Iowans do reward the bottom-up, grassroots effort that candidates put in. Believe me, I'm doing more events than anybody else here by far.

I think we're the only way to surprise. I understand your strategy, and I respect that. But the only guy I know who has criticized Governor Reynolds, not necessarily similar to yours, is Donald Trump. And Donald Trump has been also critical of New Hampshire Governor, Chris Sunnu, and you are much more critical of him, as I said, calling him the face of the establishment. So explain your beef with Sunnu, who is apparently ready to announce he's supporting somebody. It's not going to be you, clearly. It's not going to be Donald Trump. Yeah. So what happened?

Again, it's based on policy. At the end of the day, I've praised him for at least paying attention to the Northern border. But you take something like the parental rights bill, which basically has said that parents have the right to know if their kid shows up in school and identifies as a gender different than their biological sex. I think it's shameful that when that bill was served up to Sunnu, once he declined to sign it this time around when it was making its way through the legislature, he did nothing to advance it. I think that's shameful in a Republican state with the.

Republican controls of both chambers of the legislature. This had nothing to do with that. I think he called you a smart alleg. You were obnoxious and all. Did that play into this? This is more than just an issue for you? It's personal. You didn't like what he said about you?

What? Well, look, I don't like a lot of what he says about the future of this country. We have a fundamental ideological divide in the GOP, Neil, and that's what we have to confront. I'm not one of these people that says, Okay, well, if you criticize Krim Reynolds on one issue, she's automatically a bad person. I reject that. That's not good for our politics. But what I do do is I speak freely. The political consultants, the megadona class, the establishment in the Republican Party tells other candidates there are certain things they can't say. You know what? They tell me that too. I'm just the one who doesn't listen.

Do you think sometimes though with the best of intentions- You've got to go directly to the people. -do you feel that sometimes you go too far that you do get obnoxious, that you do get a little arrogant, that you do get a little dismissive, and it's hurting you. It's hurting your brand or whatever?

So, Neil, I'm not in this to play some political game of snakes and ladders. My approach to this is speak my convictions, speak to them without apology. The bet I'm making is that that will ultimately be the successful strategy.

But even if it's not, I'll be friend. Do you think you sometimes overdo that?

No is the answer to that question. Now, do I evolve my thoughts in my journey as an entrepreneur and now as somebody who's been a politician for a year? Of course. You learn from your experiences and always keep an open mind. But I will never back off of speaking my convictions. In fact, I think part of the problem with the Republican Party anymore, Neil, is it's become a party that the establishment effectively co-ops politicians as their puppets. I say let's disagree openly. I always do it in a civil way. I don't call people names, unlike some of the others on that debate stage. I don't use four-letter words to refer to my fellow candidates.

It's not always civil, right? I speak the truth. I do it in a civil way. It's not always civil. But I say this in the context of Bryan Swanson, a top political aide of yours, who left to join the Donald Trump campaign. I was intrigued by Trisha McGlecklin, your communications director, saying of that move, We love Brian. It's a good move for Brian, and we're happy for him. Why is it a good move for one of your key aides to go to Donald Trump? Why would she say that?

We have 45 people on our staff. We did bring in someone. He was stationed in New Hampshire. We brought in Mike Biondo, who ran the national campaign for Santorum in this late phase of the race to run New Hampshire. At that point, we thanked somebody who served us for the part of the campaign he got us to. I like the guy, wish him well. We have a great relationship. But we've brought in the team that actually got Santorum. The guy who's running Iowa for us now to the end is the guy who won it for Santorum and for Cruz, that's Matt Schultz. Also now we got Mike Bielda, who did the Santorum national campaign, leading New Hampshire.

To say you're happy for him, I understand, but you said you're happy for him. If I had a key person, and I know you have many key people and they leave to go to Donald Trump's campaign.

I want to be respectful of the individuals.

I.

Want to be respectful of the individuals involved and not really throw anybody... I wish everybody who's worked with us well in their future career and so I want to be respectful of those people, Neil. But what I'll tell you is we have exactly the team that we want here and the decisions we've made and who we've put in charge of which states is intentional. We have people who have won at this before, but the operation is in great shape. Now it's up to me to talk to the Iowa grassroots. We're doing that at a scale that I think other candidates aren't bringing new people into this caucus. You know what? I think it's going to be the successful strategy. But January 15th is not far around the corner, and I'd say get ready for a major surprise.

All right, we'll watch that. But in the meantime, if it doesn't work out the way you want and you don't get the nomination, would you support anyone else becoming the nominee? Would you support Donald Trump? It seems you would. Would you support Chris Christy or Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis?

Trump will support as I expect from him.

Okay, but what about the others? I think there's two of the first candidates in this race. What about the two candidates in this race? As I mentioned, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis? Would you support them?

I think there are two candidates who are relevant in this race. That's Donald Trump and myself. There's two America first candidates, period. Now, if I get the nomination, I expect Trump support, and he'll have my.

Support if he's the nominee. But I do think I'm the only candidate in this race who can go to the next level. I don't understand because I've heard you on this position.

I'm not sure I follow your exact question of what you're.

Asking me on that. No, you didn't. You didn't answer it. If they were the nominees, Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis, would you support them?

Well, look, I've made a pledge to be on that Republican debate stage just as everybody else on that debate stage did. I see no reason to rehash what every one of us has said to be on the debate stage each time, and I take that pledge about as seriously as the other candidates do. So that's what I'll say and leave it at that. But I think I'm the only candidate in this race with fresh legs from the next generation who's reaching young Americans, Neil, at a scale that nobody has done in the Republican Party in a long time. Those people aren't polled, but they can also be big assets in a general election to deliver a victory that Reagan did in 1980. So I'm focused on that destination, not the week to week undulations. We're doing this bottom up, ground up in Iowa. Take the issues I'm speaking about, from take the carbon capture pipeline to the climate change agenda in this country, to my candor and my belief that Ron and McDaniel, the chairwoman of the RNC, should resign. There's a reason why I am the only candidate who's able to actually say these things.

It's because in my case, my biggest donor is me. I don't bow to the establishment. I report to the people of this country. I think that's something that our founding fathers reminded us of, is doing something we would actually do well to remember today. It's up to the people of this country, not the media, not the donor class, not the Ronald McDaniel or the Republican establishment. I think that's going to work in our favor on the ground.

All right. But fair to say right now you like Donald Trump, you'd support him, you like yourself, you'd support yourself. Those other guys, forget about it.

That's not what I said, Neil. This is, I think, part of the issue with our media is people putting words in other.

People's mouths. I'm not a pledge to be on the debate stage. I intend to keep that pledge. I know I asked and re-asked-.

It almost feels to me, Neil, it feels to me like actually we have a debate next week, and then I know there's a lot of people who don't want me on that debate stage, and so to say something contrary to that pledge and have me kicked off, I know that might be a lot of people delighting in that.

But you accept that pledge. I'm going to take the pledge about to see who can win. Thank you for saying that. That pledge calls for supporting whoever the nominee is, right? We have policy issues to discuss, Neil. I understand that.

There's plenty of policy issues.

To discuss. You support the pledge like your rivals do.

We should probably talk about the future of.

This country. I understand that, but you support that pledge. I support the.

Pledge in the same way that my rivals do. Got it. I support my pledge in the same way the rivals do. You've got. As I.

Said before. All right. Vivek, thank you very much on that.

Vivek, Ramaswamy. Hey, Sean Hannity here. Hey, click here to subscribe to Fox News YouTube page and catch our hottest interviews and most compelling analysis. You will not get it anywhere else.