“As a businessperson, you're saving lives…why politics?” I ask.

"I think there is an opportunity to drive a national revival in our country,” he tells me. "I couldn't think of a better way to do it than to...get elected U.S. president.”

Ramaswamy is obviously a long shot, but his arguments--that America has become a nation of victims, and that some on Wall Street now collude with government to cripple capitalism--made me want to learn more about him.