Former President Donald Trump issued a statement criticizing Vivek Ramaswamy on Saturday, saying he wasn't MAGA. Some thought this might be related to Ramaswamy tweeting out a picture of young men wearing "Save Trump, Vote Vivek shirts."

A group of young men in Iowa came out in the blizzard. They sent a clear message. pic.twitter.com/SrVAeoHPey

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) January 13, 2024

SEE: Donald Trump Just Threw Vivek Ramaswamy Under the Bus

Vivek has now issued a response, but he says he's not going to fire back and detailed how he had been supportive of Trump against the efforts to target him. But he says that the "system" won't allow Trump to be president. 

Yes, I saw President Trump’s Truth Social post. It’s an unfortunate move by his campaign advisors, I don’t think friendly fire is helpful. Donald Trump was the greatest President of the 21st century, and I’m not going to criticize him in response to this late attack.

I’ve met tens of thousands of Iowans across 390+ events here, and they are deeply worried - and so am I - that this “system” won’t allow Donald J. Trump anywhere near the White House again. It seems they will stop at *nothing* to keep him away from power. [....]

But we have to open our eyes. Last time it was a man-made pandemic & Big Tech election interference. Now, the same billionaires funding the lawsuits against Trump are the ones trying to prop up Nikki Haley. The same MSM blasting Trump is lavishing praise on Nikki. They want to narrow this to a two-horse race between Trump & Haley, eliminate Trump (one way or other), & trot their puppet into the White House.

We can’t fall for that trap. 1 year from now, we won’t look back and say we were shocked that it happened. We’ll kick ourselves for not stopping it.

Our movement must live on. America-First didn’t start in 2016. It started in 1776. We owe it to our Founding Fathers to do the right thing for our country. I want to save Trump & to save this country. Let’s do it together. You won’t hear any friendly fire from me.

Instead, he attacked Nikki Haley and said the system was trying to put her into office. 

The problem, of course, is that he's trying to plumb the same voter pool as Trump, so you were bound to have a parting of the ways at some point. 

The comments to his post on X are rather fascinating and they seem to fall into a couple of major camps.

Many on X questioned if he's supportive of Trump, why is he running then? Many in response asked if the system wouldn't allow Trump, why would they allow him? 

Others thought his response smart that he wasn't visibly firing back, and perhaps an attempt not to anger that voter pool. And they thought this response helped him. 

At this point in the polls, however, unless he makes some kind of unanticipated move up, he's pretty far back, so I'm not sure what kind of impact this is going to have on his chances. 

Related: 

WATCH: Vivek Puts Media on the Spot With Stunning Questions, Their Response Should Concern Us All

WATCH: Vivek Ramaswamy Wins Again vs. Leftist Hecklers at His Event, but They Are Not Prepared to Speak