Do you want to know a dirty little secret?
Americans will always pick a celebrity to be president over a politician.
For those on the Right, you’ve got rough and tumble actors – if John Wayne announced he was running in 68, he’d have won.
Already Zelenskyy is a frontrunner for the 2024 DNC nomination.
And we’ll just keep throwing Kennedys at the problem for another century.
There’s something tempting about someone we know and implicitly trust running for the worst, hardest job in America.
A savior not from politics, freeing us from the shackles of empty suits and promises.
The only people upset by this are those already in politics.
Scratch the surface of a Congressional internship program and you’ve found dozens of little Leslie Knopes, dreaming that one day, they too will sit behind the Resolute desk.
This is why Kanye was so appealing.
Even with a celebrity already running for re-election, Kanye still stood a chance.
If Kanye had run as a major party candidate, he would’ve won.
It’s why Trump will probably win again.
And why Logan Paul wants to run in 2032.
He vlogs, he boxes, he fights!, I think he’s Mormon or something?
A shoo-in if he wants it.
It’s a tale as old as time.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the best-known men in Revolutionary America, could’ve president but he was too old / too into milfs.
Washington reluctantly took the job much as Eisenhower did – a general is just an armed celebrity.
Hell, we could’ve had a President Lindbergh if we wanted.
The fact is – the President is the most visible aspect of our government. A figurehead that can actually do things, and a much more glamorous role than being Under-undersecretary of the Interior.
We’ve personified the country, and a President is the voice, the conscience of the wishes of the American people. It’s who we see ourselves as, who we want to project to the world.
The political people grumbling about this are focused on the wrong thing. Instead of trying to spite celebrities running for president during the political process, change the culture.
Make more West Wings, get people enamored with the idea of presidents who take a centrist view “for the good of the country”, ones who can summon soliloquies at will, or hell, just start recruiting the theatre kids.
Politicians kiss babies, but celebrities understand their audience better than anyone.
