RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.: Ramaswamy crossed a line with his ugly ethnic attack on Haley

When your job is to cover what politicians say and do, you can lose your moral bearings.

When I need to regain them, I recall the words of my maternal grandmother, Aurora. The no-nonsense Tejana was born in Yorktown, a small, rural community in southeastern Texas between San Antonio and Corpus Christi, and she had a delightful way of keeping me and others in the family on the right path. If someone did something wrong, she would glare, wag her finger and say in broken English, “You don’t do that one.”

You know who needs such a scolding? Vivek Ramaswamy, the businessman who is shaking up the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Most polls have shown the 38-year-old in third place behind former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. A recent poll by Emerson College found Ramaswamy tied with DeSantis for second, each with the support of 10 percent of Republican voters.

Meanwhile, the Ivy League-educated biotech entrepreneur and political novice — who has an estimated net worth of more than $900 million — continues to demonstrate that money can’t buy good manners.

Just days after getting his clock cleaned by former South Carolina governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley at the Aug. 23 Republican debate, Ramaswamy jabbed back at his fellow Indian American in a distasteful and despicable fashion.

You will recall that Haley stung Ramaswamy during the debate, saying — to raucous applause — that he has “no foreign policy experience and it shows.” She accused him of wanting to “hand Ukraine to Russia,” “let China eat Taiwan” and “stop funding Israel.”

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter — who has a knack for saying offensive things when discussing race or ethnicity — spent the night of the debate posting on X, formerly known as Twitter. During the exchange, Coulter observed: “Nikki and Vivek are involved in some Hindu business, it seems. Not our fight.”

First, Ramaswamy is Hindu, but Haley is Christian. Second, Coulter’s trademark attempts to “other” anyone who doesn’t look like her have no place in civil discourse or American politics.

In a statement to The Hill, Tricia McLaughlin, Ramaswamy’s communications director, pushed back against the implication that her candidate is in some way foreign: “Vivek shares and lives by the same Judeo-Christian values that this nation was founded on.”

No doubt, Ramaswamy bristled at being “othered” by Coulter. Yet he did much the same thing in attacking Haley. He played the ethnic card.

On his campaign website, Ramaswamy responded to Haley’s accusation that he wants to stop U.S. aid to Israel by posting: “WRONG. Keep lying, Namrata Randhawa. The desperation is showing.”

The post was later changed to correct the spelling of Haley’s birth name. That’s the name on her birth certificate: Nimarata Nikki Randhawa. Nikki is her middle name, which she has used most of her life. And Haley is her married name. This is all public knowledge.

Haley declined to join her opponent in the sandbox.

“I’m not going to get into the childish name-calling or whatever, making fun of my name that he’s doing,” she told Fox News. “I mean, he of all people should know better than that. But I’ve given up on him knowing better than anything at this point.” Haley continued: “I think we saw the childish, demeaning side of him onstage. I think he’s carrying that out whether it’s on the website or otherwise, but I have no use for it.”

You’re probably wondering what all this is about. Well, you’ve come to the right place. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m an expert at this game. Or rather, I used to be. In college, and for many years afterward, I played the ethnic card against other Latinos. I thought it was up to me to decide who was authentic and who wasn’t. More often, I’ve had the card played against me when I’ve been accused of not being sufficiently ethnic.

Sometimes, the game takes the form of one member of a racial or ethnic minority telling another, “I’m authentic, and you’re not!” Other times, it’s a wake-up call to a person who you think is trying too hard to assimilate: “Who are you kidding? You’re just as ethnic as I am.” The game is a waste of time, and no one ever wins.

Ultimately, Ramaswamy’s out-of-bounds attack on Haley tells us a lot less about her than it does about him. None of it is good.

Clumsily rummaging around in something as personal as someone else’s ethnicity? You don’t do that one.

Ruben Navarrette’s email address is crimscribe@icloud.com. His podcast, “Ruben in the Center,” is available through every podcast app.