Trump hails Ramaswamy as 'very good friend', calls rival 'total lunatic'

Washington, October 13 (IANS) US President Donald Trump made a personal pitch for Indian-American Republican Vivek Ramaswamy at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, calling his former primary rival a "very good friend" and branding his Democratic opponent Amy Acton a "total lunatic".Addressing supporters at the Covelli Centre, Trump recalled the 2024 Republican presidential primary, in which Ramaswamy ran against him before dropping out and endorsing him."And we're going to send my very good friend -- you know, I ran against him, and he was not easy. He's a very smart guy and he's a very good guy. And he loves -- he loves this state," Trump said."He's got a lot of great plans, like cutting taxes all over the place. You'll be very happy. You're going to be amazed at how good he is, how smart he is," he added.Trump turned sharply on Acton, a physician and former state health director."Vivek is running against a total lunatic named Amy Acton, who shut down Ohio schools during Covid locked up your factories and your businesses," he said, adding that "she wants to take away your guns".He urged voters to back Ramaswamy and Senator Jon Husted. "If you want to stop it before it begins, vote for Jon Husted and vote for Vivek Ramaswamy," Trump said, after warning against Ohio being "plundered, ransacked and destroyed like Minnesota's being destroyed"."But this is, I think, about the only one I've made two. That means I like Ohio. We have to get Vivek -- And we have to get Jon," he said.Speaking before Trump took the stage, Ramaswamy said: "And I say this as the proud son of legal immigrants to this country your first act of entering this country cannot break the law that is why we are ending sanctuary cities in the state of Ohio.”"As Americans, we believe in merit, that the best person gets the job regardless of their skin color," he said, promising to be "the most conservative governor of this state has ever seen in our history".Joining Trump on stage later, Ramaswamy accused Acton of avoiding him, saying "the woman I'm running against actually refuses to show up for a debate with me"."I will be a governor who proudly works with the President of the United States of America to bring more dollars into Ohio, to bring higher paying jobs to Ohio," he said.Ramaswamy trails Acton by about four points in the MS NOW-FiftyPlusOne polling average. The election is on November 3.Ramaswamy, the Cincinnati-born son of immigrants from Kerala, would become the third Indian-American governor in US history, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina, and the first from the Midwest.Republican incumbent Mike DeWine is term-limited.