An influencer went to a rally for former President Donald Trump in Bozeman, Montana dressed as Vivek Ramaswamy—and MAGA heads fell for the prank.
Dohaa the Explorer posted a TikTok about his time as a Vivek Ramaswamy impersonator, which went viral on Wednesday.
Commenters were impressed by the resemblance and loved that people had fallen for the prank.
“Kirkland signature Vivek,” one person commented.
“bro you do NOT look like vivek lmao,” said another.
According to the TikTok, many people came up to take pictures with him, mistaking him for Ramaswamy, though he acknowledged in the comments that the resemblance was fleeting.
“Left and right, people were taking pictures with me,” Dohaa said, including Miss Montana.
In the TikTok, he also showed former acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker (who he misidentified as Montana’s Governor Greg Gianforte), and Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) taking pictures with him.
But after trying to get onstage, Dohaa’s luck ran out. The Secret Service got suspicious about who he was and the TikTok ended with him getting kicked out.
In a YouTube video, the story goes down a little differently. Dohaa explained that he got the idea because a bunch of comments in previous videos pointed out how much he looks like Ramaswamy.
According to Dohaa, the goal of the video was to see how close he could get to Trump just by dressing as Ramaswamy. He said he never actually came out of the gate and told anybody he was Vivek, though
“The people at the rally did that for me,” he explained.
Dohaa explained that he wasn’t taking any political sides in the video and that he didn’t support Democrats or Republicans. Instead, the video was just for laughs.
By the time he got to the parking lot people already were turning their heads when they saw him. It didn’t hurt that he put on a conservative black suit and red tie, matching Ramaswamy’s signature look.
He quickly cleared a checkpoint by just walking through confidently. When asked who he was by a rally volunteer, he openly acknowledged that he was a YouTuber and his name was Dohaa, not Vivek.
Inside, Dohaa even managed to score an interview with Tim Sheehy, who Trump endorsed for Senate. He also met Whitaker and Daines, but neither of them seemed to think he was really Ramaswamy.
After interviewing Sheehy, the Secret Service got suspicious. When Dohaa couldn’t produce any press credentials, he was told to get them or be kicked out. Unlike in the TikTok, he never actually gets kicked out for trying to get too close to Trump
After dropping his main camera back at his car, he snuck back in again with just his phone and got a seat as close as he could. It was there, he said, that people started staring at him and taking pictures.
Dohaa looked so much like Vivek that when MAGA supporters started asking him about it. Dohaa said he told the truth, but some thought that he was messing with them.
“If you are [Vivek], and you’re messing with me, I’m going to be pissed,” one told him.
“I thought the same thing when you were walking in the hallway, I was like ‘Oh my gosh,’” said another.
Dohaa’s ultimate goal was a selfie with Trump, but despite the close seat, he wasn’t able to get one. Still, Dohaa wants an interview with Trump,
“If anyone on the Trump team is watching this video, please send me an email, I would love to do a podcast with Trump,” Dohaa said.
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