Jimmy Fallon is ripping into MAGA candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s most awkward campaign moment.
The late-night host roasted Ohio’s gubernatorial candidate for an embarrassing onstage blip in which he tried to pull off a quintessential political gesture.
On Saturday, as Ramaswamy, 41, addressed voters in Vandalia, he spotted a 10-year-old kid who he claimed was holding a sign that said, “My dad is deployed—proud military kid for Trump.” Ramaswamy invited the child onstage, hoping to manufacture a campaign moment. “I’m going to pick you up,” he told him.
On The Tonight Show, Fallon unpacked the “viral” moment, saying, “At one point during the rally, Ohio governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy tried to pick up a 10-year-old boy, and it didn’t go very well.”
As seen in the footage, Ramaswamy failed to lift the child. “Whoa!” he said. “Big guy!” The crowd gasped in response as the politician nearly dropped him.
“Oh, boy!” quipped Fallon. “It’s fun to have a video of the exact moment you lost your campaign. That’s right.”
“It got worse when Trump was like, ‘Me next! Uppy, uppy!’ And you go, ‘What’s happening?’ ‘Uppy, uppy!’”
The moment came as Ramaswamy was hoping to honor the military. “For the men and women who have served this country and our military, please stay standing. I want to recognize our veterans and those who serve in our military and who defend that country right now,” he said. “Applaud these men and women.”
He paused to see the child’s sign, reading it aloud as the crowd cheered. “I love that!” he laughed, before calling him up onstage.
Political pundits have also called out the disastrous video as a major mistake. Politics writer Nick Field dubbed it the “type of video haunts a candidate forever,” and said, “Terrible decision, terrible execution.” Liberal commentator Majid M. Padellan called the moment “pathetic.”
Ramaswamy finally managed to lift the child up to the mic, who then began a chant of “USA, USA, USA!”
Ramaswamy is competing in a tight race to win over Ohio, which is currently split nearly evenly between the pharmaceutical entrepreneur and Democratic candidate Amy Acton.
