AMES, Iowa — A day before the first contest of his political career, Vivek Ramaswamy was talking about Jeffrey Epstein.

It was barely past noon and Ramaswamy had already explained his plan to shut down the so-called Deep State, laid out why he is certain that “the system” will stop former President Donald Trump from ever occupying the White House again and promised pardons for “every peaceful Jan. 6 protester” on the first day of his presidential administration.

“We the people can handle the truth. We the people demand the truth. We require the truth,” Ramaswamy said to a crowded bar in Ames on Sunday, answering a question from a 17-year-old about his pledge to “release the full Epstein client list without apology” as president.

“That’s what I'm gonna give you on behalf of the government,” Ramaswamy continued.

As Iowans get ready to cast the first votes of the 2024 presidential cycle Monday, Ramaswamy continues to poll in single digits - but his new calling as a right-wing evangelist is one of the caucuses' most striking story lines.

It is a remarkable transformation in a short period of time. Ramaswamy, a first-time political candidate, went from a technocrat entrepreneur to a rightwing conspiracy theorist in a matter of months. It was barely two years ago that Ramaswamy said anti-immigrant sentiment among conservatives and Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen were “false victimhood narratives” in his book “Nation of Victims.”

Now, a day away from the Iowa caucuses, Ramaswamy’s tone has changed totally. Trump’s promise to build a wall has not gone far enough to solve the immigration problem at the U.S.-Mexico border, he said. It is time to send in the military. And the 2020 election was definitely rigged “at least by Big Tech — if not worse.”

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At the heart of Ramaswamy’s closing argument in Iowa is his promise to not only take up the America First mantle but to take it even further. Trump, the frontrunner in the latest polls, is too bogged down by bureaucratic enemies to make it back to the White House, Ramaswamy says. And although the 38-year-old businessman is very complimentary of the former president, he simply doesn’t think Trump can win in November.

“We have to open our eyes that they're not going to let this man get anywhere near that White House again,” Ramaswamy said at a pizza restaurant in Ankeny on Sunday morning. “Donald Trump was an excellent president and we love the man because he got this fight started. But now it is our job, my duty, as your next president to finish it.”

In his quest to win over the MAGA faithful, Ramaswamy has leaned heavily into conspiracy theories and inflammatory rhetoric in the last few months. Ramaswamy has acknowledged his change in tone, saying that “once you see it, you can’t unsee it.”

Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at a campaign stop at the Hampton Inn & Suites Sioux City South on January 08, 2024 in Sioux City, Iowa. — Joe Raedle/Getty Images

He used a December GOP primary debate to suggest without evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol looked like an “inside job,” the 2020 election was stolen by Big Tech and that the so-called Great Replacement theory was a “basic statement of the Democratic Party’s platform.” He was just endorsed by Steve King, the controversial former Iowa congressman known for his racist remarks.

But despite moving to the right, holding more events in Iowa than any other candidate and spending nearly $30 million of his fortune on his presidential campaign, Ramaswamy can’t seem to shake the perception that he is aiming somewhere below the top job - or for another job altogether, perhaps in the influential world of MAGA-linked media.

"He’s a smart guy and certainly came out of nowhere in a way that I wasn’t expecting. I don’t know that he’s running for president at this point. I suspect he’s running for vice president or a cabinet position,” said Jeff Taylor, an Iowa state lawmaker and political science professor.

That feeling is in part because Trump appears ready to cruise to victory on Monday. Ramaswamy had 8% of support in a Des Moines Register poll released on Saturday, compared to Trump’s 48% among GOP caucus goers. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was in second with 20% of support and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had 16%. (Ramaswamy’s campaign notes that his rivals and their super PACs have spent far more on TV ads in the Hawkeye State than he has).

Ramaswamy’s low poll numbers are not for lack of trying. He’s campaigned in Pizza Ranches, on college campuses and at community festivals. He stood up his own Vektoberfest in the fall complete with a drone show. He braved blizzard conditions this week to stump across the state, comparing his relentless campaigning to George Washington crossing the Delaware River in 1776.

Ramaswamy’s modest support in Iowa caucus polls was enough to catch Trump’s eye this weekend, especially as record cold temperatures in Iowa threaten to drive down turnout on caucus night. Ramaswamy campaign T-shirts emblazoned with the words “SAVE TRUMP VOTE VIVEK” and the former president’s mugshot outlined by the shape of Iowa seemed to be the final straw.

“Vivek started his campaign as a great supporter, ‘the best President in generations,’ etc. Unfortunately, now all he does is disguise his support in the form of deceitful campaign tricks,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Saturday night. “Very sly, but a vote for Vivek is a vote for the ‘other side’ — don’t get duped by this. Vote for ‘TRUMP,’ don’t waste your vote! Vivek is not MAGA.”

Ramaswamy wrote it off as bad advice from campaign advisers, but attendees pressed him on the Trump dynamic at campaign events on Sunday. During one of Ramaswamy’s free-wheeling question-and-answer sessions, a man in Ankeny asked why he doesn’t team up with Trump and serve as vice president.

“Our country is in dire trouble,” the man said, holding the microphone in one hand and filming their exchange on a smartphone in the other. The 77-year-old Trump would be even older by the time he’s reelected, the man explained, and “he might die” in office. In that case, why not be his vice president?

“I'm not a plan B person,” Ramaswamy said. Having Trump as his vice president, Ramaswamy continued, was something that he’d consider.

The other problem: The Trump campaign said on Sunday that Trump “probably” would not choose Ramaswamy for the job.

Despite his optimism and a promise to stay in the race past Super Tuesday, there are signs that Ramaswamy’s campaign may not last through November like he pledges. Ramaswamy’s political director joined the Trump campaign in December and his staff are reportedly looking for other jobs, something his campaign denies.

Still, Ramaswamy supporters who spoke with The Messenger at his campaign events this weekend fit Ramaswamy’s description of who could deliver him a stronger-than-expected result on Monday. The businessman has said support from first-time caucus goers and young people does not register in polls.

Curtiss Stoller of Webster City, for example, will attend his first-ever caucus to support Ramaswamy on Monday. He voted for Trump in the last two general elections but is concerned that the former president has become too bogged down with issues to be as effective this time around.

“I think Vivek can pick up that mantle,” Stoller said. He wore a baseball cap that read “CLEAN UP ON AISLE 46” in reference to President Joe Biden.

Stoller was also disappointed to see Trump call Ramaswamy “deceitful” and “sly.”

"It seems like it always comes down to that,” Stoller said. “One of the reasons I like Vivek is, at least from what I’ve seen, he hasn’t stooped to that.”

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The Transformation of Vivek Ramaswamy