Just a few hours ago, John McAfee, creator of the original McAfee antivirus product turned cryptocurrency celebrity has announced on Twitter that he will be running for US president in the upcoming 2020 election. According to the tweet, he will accept a nomination by the Libertarian party if offered. If it is not offered, then he will run under his own political banner or perhaps as an independent candidate.
McAfee for POTUS?
In a stunning announcement that has already received 3500 likes and over 700 retweets in just a few hours, John McAfee announced his intent to run for US president. So far the responses have been largely positive, with a number of users on Twitter making comments like “you’ve got my vote” or “president McAfee sounds good to me”.
In spite of past refusals, I have decided to again run for POTUS in 2020. If asked again by the Libertarian party, I will run with them. If not, I will create my own party. I believe this will best serve the crypto community by providing the ultimate campaign platform for us.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 3, 2018
Twitter user @SancakliAilesi asked if drugs and brothels would be made legal, to which McAfee replied with nothing more than a smiley emoji.
https://twitter.com/SancakliAilesi/status/1003399291388547072
For those unaware, John McAfee has been an early investor and vocal supporter of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He recently saw some controversy in the cryptocurrency world when his account ran a campaign of promoting various altcoins like Reddcoin and Verge.
What followed iswhat was later dubbed the “McAfee effect” in which after McAfee mentioned an altcoin, it’s price would skyrocket. Some even predicted that various bot networks were monitoring his Twitter feed for mentions of any cryptocurrency, and then automatically purchasing massive amounts of it, expecting a price jump to follow.
McAfee Releases Own Currency
To make things even more complex, McAfee announced the creation of his own cryptocurrency that will released on entirely on paper notes. The currency, called McAfee Redemption Units features various images of McAfee himself, as well as purportedly other various crypto celebrities including Roger Ver of recent Bitcoin Cash fame.
No hoax. The "McAfee Redemption Unit" is real and coming in 26 days. The graphic is low res – don't want to give much away yet. Printed on currency paper, holographs on both sides, serialized, linked to the blockchain, redeemable, convertible, collectiblehttps://t.co/ySUwkDuW7s pic.twitter.com/75xTje39X8
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) May 29, 2018
Not many details are available about this just yet, but it would be interesting to see if the McAfee Redemption Unit sees real-world use. And if he were to later win the position of president, how these two things would interact.
Does McAfee Stand a Real Chance?
McAfee is undoubtedly a polarizing figure. People either love him or hate him, but very few who know about him have no opinion whatsoever. This could prove to play in his favor as president Donald Trump had a similar degree of notoriety during his campaign.
Read our Profile of John McAfee
Further, with Donald Trump achieving the presidency back in 2016, this could potentially lay the groundwork for a McAfee presidency. Specifically, Donald Trump had no previous political experience and yet was able to achieve the highest position in the country.
However, Trump ran under the Republican Party after achieving their nomination. John McAfee would have a much harder time running as a Libertarian or under his own party simply because the United States has never had a president that ran under any other political party.
A Symbolic Move Only?
While the Libertarian party in the US has seen great growth, they have still never achieved even double-digit voter numbers when looking at all votes as a percentage. Getting a celebrity like John McAfee to run could be something that would attract a lot more attention to the party than previous nominees.
John McAfee does not have a so-called “clean history”, however. He’s very open about his drug use, sex with multiple partners (with his wife’s approval), and his occasional violent outbursts. It’s difficult to say if this would be an impediment or perhaps even an advantage to his campaign.
It’s also difficult to say whether or not John McAfee truly believes he could win such a campaign. It is possible that he is simply making such an announcement and perhaps engaging in a campaign simply as a symbolic move, as well as perhaps to bring cryptocurrency even more into the public eye.
No matter what the case may be, the move could prove to be beneficial to cryptocurrency at large simply because this could bring it even more into the public eye than it already is. But will John McAfee truly become our next president? Only time will tell.
