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What Vivek Ramaswamy leaves out of his story of South Asian success

It’s a culture not of success but of survival.

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Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the leaders of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's proposed new Department of Government Efficiency, walks on the day of his meeting with members of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. December 5, 2024. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein


Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy recently argued that Americans can learn from high-skill immigrants.

PHOTO: REUTERS

Zaid Jilani

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Mr Vivek Ramaswamy, who has been tapped by US President-elect Donald Trump to

help lead a government-efficiency initiative,

recently argued on X that Americans can learn from high-skilled immigrants, especially those working in the science and tech industries, because “American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long”.

He suggested that certain immigrant communities have promoted a superior culture that values excellence and produces “wildly successful Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduates”.

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