At a President Donald Trump rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on Saturday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called a young child up to the stage. He said, “I’ll pick you up,” and tried to raise the boy above the podium.
The lift did not hold. Ramaswamy nearly dropped the child and had to scramble to keep him from falling. According to Mediaite, he then said, “Whoa!” and “Big guy!”
Video of the moment moved quickly online. Viewers set it next to an old campaign image of Michael Dukakis in a tank, and Jack McGuire from Barstool Sports wrote on X that the past year and a half has been a “humiliation ritual” for Ramaswamy.
The tank comparison and the posts that followed
Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic nominee, took that ride on Sept. 13 at a General Dynamics plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Staff had planned the stop so he could talk about conventional weapons and narrow a wide gap with George H.W. Bush on defense. A Los Angeles Times survey that weekend found 54 percent of respondents thought Bush would do a better job on national defense, against 18 percent for Dukakis.
The tank was an M1A1 Abrams, about 68 tons. Dukakis boarded it inside a garage so cameras would not catch him climbing. He wore coveralls with his name on them. For the faster passes, he also wore a helmet with his name across the front, which the company said he needed for safety and to hear the narration.
The picture that stuck was a close shot of him smiling and pointing, helmet on, as the tank swung toward the press riser. A candidate’s handling of a child on stage can become a defining image, as when Trump saved a toddler from falling off a Las Vegas stage and promptly made it a joke.
Bush’s team later froze that frame in an ad that listed weapons programs Dukakis had opposed and closed with, “America can’t afford that risk.” Dukakis later said the tank did not cost him the election. He said he lost because he decided not to answer the Bush attacks.
People watching Ramaswamy reached for that history right away. The New York Times columnist Lydia Polgreen wrote, “This is worse than Dukakis in the tank.” Doug Gottlieb wrote, “This will be his Dukakis in the tank moment, but that kid is that age and body type that fools ya!”
Another post put the clip in the same group as two older campaign images: “Immediately up there with the Dukakis tank photo and Howard Dean scream.” Other reactions stayed on the lift itself. Ben Kew wrote, “Whatever political ‘it’ is, poor Vivek just doesn’t have it.” Nick Field wrote, “Absolutely brutal video: Terrible decision, terrible execution. This type of video haunts a candidate forever.” Keith Edwards called it a “brutal watch.”
James Surowiecki wrote, “Vivek’s as good at picking up kids as he is at swinging a bat.” Derek Guy wrote, “this is what happens when a culture venerates the math olympiad over the jock.” Kimberly Ross wrote, “This is still not as great as when candidates are photographed eating food at state fairs, but it’s pretty close.”
Congressman Brendan Boyle and Jim Acosta shared the video as well. Kyle Kulinski wrote, “Blue tsunami coming.” Ramaswamy is trying to follow in the footsteps of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. Democrat Amy Acton is his opponent, and the most recent polls have shown her ahead by several points.
Published: Oct 4, 2026 02:00 pm