Vivek Ramaswamy’s 9/11 Meanderings

Life is short, so I confess that I haven’t paid much mind to the kerfuffle over Vivek Ramaswamy’s sticking his toe into the roiling puddle of 9/11 trutherism — or, for that matter, to Vivek’s Trump 2.0 campaign, as to which I won’t belabor what’s already been well said by Charlie, Jim, Jeff, and Noah.

But having now looked into it, here’s what I think happened. Ramaswamy was running with the Tucker Carlson demagogy that the Capitol riot was an “inside job.” As is his wont, Vivek sought to next-level it in an interview by The Atlantic (see also here) by comparing allegations that FBI undercover agents were on-site at the Capitol* with the imaginary presence of police on the hijacked planes the jihadists crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11. Ramaswamy’s point, assuming he had one, was that the public deserves an accounting of law-enforcement’s role, if any, in stoking the January 6 riot, just as we would expect that, in the 9/11 Commission investigation, the question whether police or federal agents were on the hijacked planes would be explored. It was an imbecilic analogy — we know who hijacked the planes and that there was no reason to believe law-enforcement participated in the suicide-attacks.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.

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Life is short, so I confess that I haven’t paid much mind to the kerfuffle over Vivek Ramaswamy’s sticking his toe into the roiling puddle of 9/11 trutherism — or, for that matter, to Vivek’s Trump 2.0 campaign, as to which I won’t belabor what’s already been well said by Charlie, Jim, Jeff, and Noah.

But having now looked into it, here’s what I think happened. Ramaswamy was running with the Tucker Carlson demagogy that the Capitol riot was an “inside job.” As is his wont, Vivek sought to next-level it in an interview by The Atlantic (see also here) by comparing allegations that FBI undercover agents were on-site at the Capitol* with the imaginary presence of police on the hijacked planes the jihadists crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11. Ramaswamy’s point, assuming he had one, was that the public deserves an accounting of law-enforcement’s role, if any, in stoking the January 6 riot, just as we would expect that, in the 9/11 Commission investigation, the question whether police or federal agents were on the hijacked planes would be explored. It was an imbecilic analogy — we know who hijacked the planes and that there was no reason to believe law-enforcement participated in the suicide-attacks.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.