Trump rally at Madison Square Garden: Vivek Ramaswamy missing from speakers’ list | World News – Times of India

One of the best moments in Mad Men came when the developers of New York City’s now iconic Madison Square Garden are worried about destroying the dingy Penn State Station. While chiding the developers for having a guilty conscience, the fictional Don Draper points out: “Let’s say that change is neither good nor bad. It simply is. It can be treated with terror or joy — a tantrum that says, ‘I want it the way it was,’ or a dance that says, ‘Look — something new.’ … I was in California. Everything is new, and it’s clean. The people are filled with hope. New York City is in decay. But Madison Square Garden — it’s the beginning of a new city on a hill.”
He goes on to mouth one of the most elegant lines from the show: “PR people can understand this, but they can never execute it. If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.”

The conversation for the last week has all been about Madison Square Garden where Donald Trump is holding a massive rally that Hillary Clinton has already compared to a 1939 Nazi rally that took place there in support of Hitler.
The who’s who of the Trump campaign is speaking at the rally including his VP pick JD Vance, Speaker Mike Johnson, New York rep Elise Stefanik, former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, Lara, Eric and Don Jr, Elon Musk, Dan Scavino, Dan White, Tucker Carlson, and even former presidential nominee RFK Jr.
Full list of speakers:

However, one prominent MAGAvenger seems to be missing from the list, the former Presidential nominee and one of the most articulate members of Team Trump: Vivek Ramaswamy.
Read: The MAGAvengers: The team Trump has assembled to save America
It almost makes one wonder if there’s suddenly a rift in the MAGAverse where Vivek Ramaswamy has suddenly become a persona non grata and been disinvited from the Garden or maybe it’s just a typo. Or perhaps, so close to the election, they don’t want to remind folks that one of the most prominent members of Team MAGA is actually Hindu who very recently tussled with a MAGA supporter over his religion.
To be fair, Ramaswamy has been present at most recent Trump events

Trump supporters having been pushing the narrative that he’s God’s Chosen Warrior, one who has survived two assassination attempts. His supporters credit his survival to divine intervention, interpreting it as a clear sign of his destined role. New York Representative Elise Stefanik remarked on this, urging Americans to unite in November to restore peace, while House Speaker Mike Johnson proclaimed that “GOD protected President Trump.” Other members of Congress echoed this sentiment, claiming God’s “protective hand” had ensured Trump’s safety, with Representative Cory Mills attributing it to “divine intervention” and Rep. Carlos Antonio Giménez attributing it to “the grace of God.”
The ideology aligns with Christian nationalists, who portray Trump as a divinely chosen leader in a battle against the Left, seen as godless and dangerous. Even Pope Francis offered a satirical nod, describing the U.S. election as choosing between “the lesser evil,” with one candidate “chasing away migrants” and the other “killing children,” demonstrating a complex and sometimes cynical religious narrative around Trump’s candidacy.
How Ramaswamy became an important MAGA figure
In days gone by, the term “Samosa Caucus” referred to the few Indian-Americans who had managed to reach the upper levels of US politics. Much has shifted since, with a considerable number of Indian-origin politicians now in the race on both sides, leading even to a Tamil vs Telugu subplot in this year’s US Presidential Election. Yet, if there’s one Indian-American who has truly stood out during the 2024 campaign, it is Vivek Ramaswamy. A nationally-ranked tennis player in high school, a champion debater, a skilled orator, and the valedictorian, Ramaswamy has been the archetype of every Asian “tiger mum’s” aspiration from the start. Remarkably, “Tiger Mom” Amy Lynn Chua greatly influenced him, as did JD and Usha Vance. Following his time at Harvard and Yale Law, Ramaswamy worked in hedge funds, launched a pharmaceutical company, and amassed significant wealth. He also received the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, leading some to label him a “Soros agent,” despite the foundation having no link to the right’s perennial antagonist.
With his “Ten Truths” — which resemble the Ten Commandments and bear no relation to Hinduism — Ramaswamy appeared the ideal Trump surrogate in the initial stages of the Republican primaries, running a campaign that echoed Will McAvoy’s opening monologue from The Newsroom, invoking the nostalgia of a great America. His interactions with Nikki Haley were especially notable, as he mocked her for changing her name and religion, attempting to position himself as the “true” Hindu American who hadn’t altered his identity to rise through the ranks.
As an outsider to the party in Trump’s vein, albeit familiar to influential right-wingers, Ramaswamy displays traits that make him appealing to the MAGA base. He even held his ground with figures like Ann Coulter, who admitted agreeing with his viewpoints but refused to support him because of his ethnicity. Indeed, one might argue that if Ramaswamy had been on the opposite side of the political spectrum, numerous mainstream media outlets would have lauded his campaign as a groundbreaking effort.
Many Trump supporters had hoped Ramaswamy would be Trump’s VP choice, but he was ultimately out of the running in the final stages, with Trump instead choosing Ramaswamy’s Yale peer, JD Vance. Nonetheless, Ramaswamy seems poised for a prominent role in the evolving MAGA movement, leading Time magazine to label him Trump’s most apparent “heir apparent.”