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Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.
Traditional politics in the U.S. is all but being chucked out the window.
What will the political landscape of America look like in 15 months? If you think the forces that put the controversial, billionaire Donald Trump into the presidency were just a fluke, well think again.
On the horizon are a number of eye-popping announcements from a variety of celebrities who got their start in the music industry, Hollywood movies and the sports arena that they may run for elected office in mid-term national elections on Nov. 6, 2018, or in 2020.
Voters in Michigan just might have themselves as a candidate for U.S. Senate Robert J. Ritchie, 46, better known as Kid Rock. Few in the music industry are better known than Kid Rock.
He’s a giant in the industry specializing in his original brand of rap-rock complete with social and political commentary in his lyrics. Rock has enormous name recognition, he is worth tens of millions and he is known to be extremely politically outspoken. He’s literally the new kid on the block.
If Kid Rock actually runs and he says his candidacy “is no hoax”, he’ll first have to make it through the republican primaries in Michigan, and come out on top to run against three-term U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a democrat who first won this U.S. Senate seat in 2000.
The more you know about Kid Rock the easier it is to really like him. Although he didn’t support Trump’s candidacy early on, he now is a strong supporter of the president. Over the years he has personally known Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Trump. He has taken his massive rap-rock show overseas many times to perform for U.S. Military Service personal without payment. He is affiliated with the Republican Party, but he identifies as a libertarian, according to Wikipedia.
It would be a mistake not to take Kid Rock’s intentions seriously. The public approval rating of the U.S. Congress – all 535 representatives and senators – is at rock bottom. This long-standing disapproval of Congress opens the door for other celebrities to get on the political band wagon like transgender Caitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner of Olympic Gold fame, who is eyeing a run for a California U.S. Senate seat. Imagine that. Jenner supports President Trump and because of her support for the president she has taken a lot of heat from the entire gay community.
Writing for New York Magazine and published on the Real Clear Politics website, political columnist Frank Guan gives this view on Kid Rock’s potential in politics.
“Kid Rock is a long shot, but that hardly means he has no shot. As with Trump, name recognition goes a long way. Hundreds of millions of people know who Kid Rock is, and millions of them are Michigan residents eligible and willing to vote for him. As with Trump, an unknown but significant bloc of voters is open to voting for a celebrity who represents himself as bucking the system. However one defines it, the system is in terrible shape,” commented Guan. “Congressional Democrats have an approval rating even lower than Trump’s. Kid Rock’s lack of political experience is a selling point … he has a gift for crafting ‘punchy slogans’ and keeping an audience in thrall … he still maintains a loyal fan base that’s kept him comfortably afloat in an industry facing dire times.”
Guan went on to say,
“Rock’s libertarian rhetoric of simplifying law codes, tax codes and health care has an uncommonly high hat/cattle ratio. But simple messages, delivered frequently and repeated with enthusiasm, help win elections far more than fact-checking and bet-hedging. The Michigan Senate election is Stabenow’s to lose, but if she and her party fail to offer clear policy prescriptions (Medicare for all being an obvious example) of their own, it’s possible, if not quite plausible, that she could lose it.”
If Donald Trump a former Reality TV star — who built a real estate empire — can make it to the presidency, basically anything could happen next. Here’s a list of other celebrities – in addition to Kid Rock and Jenner — that may throw their hat into politics in the near future:
- Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, action-movie star, says he’s running for president in 2020.
- Curt Schilling, former professional baseball pitcher, says he’s running in 2018 for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts to try to de-throne incumbent democrat Elizabeth Warren.
- Kanye West, rapper, says he’s running for president in 2020.
- Screamin’ Ted Nugent, long-time republican rock star, says he hasn’t decided but he may run for a variety of offices in 2018 or 2020.
- Jerry Springer, former mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio and Shock TV host, says he may run for governor of Ohio in 2018.
- Antonio Sabato Jr., former daytime TV soap-opera star and Calvin Klein model says he’s running for a U.S. House seat in California in 2018.
- Mark Zuckerberg, FaceBook founder and billionaire, says he may run against President Trump in the 2020 presidential race.
- Payton Manning, Super Bowl champion football quarterback, is often mentioned as a possible future presidential candidate.
- Tim Tebow, a likeable full-time Christian and former professional, and college football player, is also often mentioned as having a future in elected politics.
We don’t know what we don’t know, but what we do know is the future of politics in America will be anything but boring. Why not flood the halls of congress with oddball celebrity types, rock stars and sports figures? Those talking-head lawyers in Washington have made a mess of things.
About the Author
Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.
Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.
