Republican Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Calls Juneteenth A ‘Useless’ Holiday

Conservative GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy feels a way about Juneteenth. Just two months after posting a video celebrating the holiday, Ramaswamy now feels Juneteenth is “useless,” NBC News reports.

During a conversation with voters in Iowa on August 5, 2023, Ramaswamy suggested that the now-federal holiday should be moved in order to make room for something new—a national voting holiday.

“Cancel Juneteenth or one of the other useless ones we made up,” he told applauding potential voters.

However, on June 19, he was singing a different tune with a video he posted on Twitter.

“We don’t just look back and flog ourselves,” Ramaswamy said. “What we celebrate is how far we’ve come. And as a first-generation American myself, you better believe I’m proud of it. Happy Juneteenth everybody.”

Juneteenth is a new holiday so we still have a chance to define what it means to us. It needn’t be about grievance & self-flogging. Let it be a celebration of the American Dream itself. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/NyHfbJoAlw

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) June 19, 2023

Juneteenth, the celebration of when Union troops announced several Black people had been freed in Galveston Bay, Texas, was made a federal holiday in 2021 by President Joe Biden. It has been observed since 2004.

In Ramaswamy’s eyes, the Juneteenth holiday is “redundant” and it overlaps with other holidays, like Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents Day.

“The reason for making it a holiday was under political duress,” Ramaswamy said.

‘It was a political hostage situation on the back of the death of George Floyd.”

Diversity has been a focal point for the presidential candidate during his campaign, calling for people to come together and recognize how similar they truly are, according to The Hill.

Fellow Republican presidential hopeful, former Congressman Will Hurd (R-TX), slammed Ramaswamy’s cancellation remarks, saying the holiday represents “equality and freedom.”