Oh god no. Not another one. Tom Steyer has announced his candidacy. He doesn’t stand a chance.
I have a suggestion for all the wanna-bes.
Three quarters of you ought to be running for the House or Senate, ‘k? If you want to do some good, there’s where you should be, because you might have a chance of succeeding.
If you are a filthy rich billionaire who has some liberal goals (you’re not going to be promoting leftist/progressive goals, because you’ve already demonstrated a life-long commitment to stealing from workers), I have a different suggestion: run for president on the Republican side. You’ll do more damage to Trump that way, you might peel away the Republicans who are disgusted with Trump, and if you win, either the nomination or even the presidency, you’ll have transformed the Republican party. Also imagine the chaos in the confused media. Wouldn’t that be fun?
Try it. Think outside the box. Trump could be wrecked even before the election, or the Republicans could end up tearing each other apart.
The smartest thing Steyer could do would be to invest that $100 million in either a voter registration drive or a set of primary challengers to existing Democrats in the House and Senate. Instead he’s going to waste it on a quixotic campaign for President.
And it is going to be a waste. You can’t buy your way to a Presidential nomination, and rich candidates before have tried – look up “Steve Forbes 2000”.
Like Trump?
I think he is taking the mirror image of your advice. Really a Trump supporter sowing dissent among the Dems.
The most long-lasting effect of McConnell’s tenure in the Senate is that he has made that body so dysfunctional that no one wants to be a part. It’s where political action goes to die. Nothing can be accomplished there. The only reason to run is to tally up a score of Republicans versus Democrats. If you actually care about politics, if you want to help people, you will not have any chance to accomplish that in the modern Senate.
If you manage to take the Senate next year (not impossible) and get rid of the filibuster (most likely impossible), then the Senate might get some things done. But being a Senator isn’t worth very much now.
Use the money to fund measures in each state for non-partisan districting to end gerrymandering. Use the money to elect Democratic state legislatures. This area has been a focus of Republicans and is where a lot shit action has been taken against workers, women, and minorities of all stripes.
DanDare wrote:
No, he’s a longtime Democratic supporter. He’s just deluded. The other, other billionaire, coffeeman Howard Shultz is the one who seems to exist to sow dissent. Honestly, one billionaire is already too many. No one needed three.
He’s a hedge fund manager. That tells me everything I need to know.
Other than Justin Amash?
As as outsider, (Not a US citizen) may I point out that the US electorial system, well the total political system, seems to be completely dysfunctional?
I am left slack-jawed at the gerrymandering that is allowed, horrified at the registration frauds that eliminate minorities from the voting lists and bewildered at the blatant scheduling of polls.
One seems to be able to buy a politician rather cheaply though I may not be understanding the pay-off systems.
Bloody Hell.
I absolutely cannot wait to have 5 independent spoilers siphoning votes because they are rich enough to keep campaigning up until the general election.
chigau, #2
He doesn’t stand a chance against Trump.
jrkrideau @9: To the people in charge, all that dysfunction is a feature, not a bug. Republicans have been blatantly trying to wreck the federal government since before I was born.
Billionaires are boring. Not only that, they are suspect.
I hear there is yet another one in the dock just now.
And the current chief pretender is likely not a billionaire,
just a poor, desperate facsimile.