John McAfee is running for president for a second time. The businessman turned politician announced his candidacy back in the Summer of 2018, although it did not become official until Friday. McAfee, who started the antivirus company of the same name, formerly ran in 2016 as part of the Libertarian Party. He got minor traction as a candidate, but ended up not receiving the nomination from the party. Despite hinting at making his own political banner to run under in the past, he’ll once again be competing for the Libertarian Party nomination.
In the Tweet that announced he was officially running, McAfee made a few points about his campaign which will not ask for any donations. The plan includes Zoom video conferences to negate travel expenses and advertising done exclusively through social media reach. He ended the Tweet by saying: “If a person must spend money to be president, Then [something] is truly f*****d.”
This 2nd campaign has been tumultuous thus far, which likely explains the late entrance to the race. Around this time last year, McAfee, his wife, and four members of his campaign staff were being investigated by the IRS for tax-related felonies. Since then, his campaign headquarters has moved to Havana, Cuba. At one point, he planned to run for president despite running from the IRS by using “hundreds of masked look-alikes,” although that plan didn’t seem to go anywhere.
Why Does John McAfee Keep Running For President?
It’s easy to call this just a publicity stunt – which it probably is. Still, McAfee has some major points that, to his credit, he’s been consistent with. For starters, he’s built his platform on cryptocurrency, and the importance of it. In particular he believes in the education of the public on the topic. In the past, McAfee has endorsed currencies like Monero and PirateChain.
As for more traditional topics, he’s admittedly uninformed. On his official website, he notes he has “no idea” about foreign affairs, immigration or education. His main goal in winning the Oval Office is freeing the American people from the government. To use a metaphor with his past ventures, he believes the American people are computers and the government is a controlling virus. McAfee hopes to free the “computers “of the “virus”, just like his product has done for decades.
In all likelihood, McAfee’s chances of winning the presidency are less than one percent, although a Libertarian Party nomination is not out of the question. He has enough of an infrastructure set up that it’s more than just a media stunt, which is good because he’s not getting much attention outside of his own respectable sphere of influence. The no-money, no-travel approach is probably the biggest takeaway from this. While McAfee might not find success in the 2020 election, a candidate on a similar platform in the future might.
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Source: C|Net, McAfee2020HQ
