Batshit Campaign Ad Season continues with Missouri gubernatorial candidate Eric Greitens, a man who describes himself as a bona fide "conservative outsider."
Greitens says he is ready to "fire away" in this campaign ad featuring music befitting a Tom Clancy movie. There's also an explosion.
For too long Missouri's been run by career politicians owned by corrupt consultants, high paid lobbyists, and special interests. While they get rich, Missourians are hurting. Well, I'm no career politician. I'm a Navy SEAL and I'll take dead-aim at politics as usual.
I'm Eric Greiten. If you're ready for conservative outsider, I'm ready to fire away.
I can't imagine how an unhinged lunatic like Donald Trump rose to power. Can you?
I've said this before but I've learned a lot in a very short period of time during this election cycle about the dangers of radical populism. Conservatives may be waking up to the fact that they've been scammed for decades, but their solution is even more scams. Their solution isn't more responsible government, it's even more irresponsible government. They're lashing out at the entire system itself rather than the men who've used and abused them within it.
Populism can be a tool for good, but it can also be a weapon. Weaponized populism may be the new tool of choice for radical politicians as popularized by the likes of Donald Trump who tells people he's going to give them everything they ever wanted. Trump tells people their problems can be blamed on minorities and foreign powers rather than men like himself. Trump provides them with a list of targets that doesn't include him even though he has indirectly increased their burdens by skirting and even outright rejected his civic responsibilities and dodging massive amounts of taxes.
To a lesser degree, Bernie Sanders has also used populism to exploit and amplify feelings of anxiety and unrest rather mobilize voters for action. In a similar vein, Bernie Sanders has been in office for nearly 30 years but accomplished almost nothing during that time. He voted against immigration reform and voted in favor of loosening gun control laws, but he says the Democratic party is to blame for our trouble.
Candidate and President Obama, on the other hand, conveyed a populist message to inspire and motivate people. He appealed to our better selves, not our angrier selves. He said "don't boo, vote!"
People who've said the president should have gotten angry over the years should take a second look and ask themselves if that really would have improved anything rather than make it worse.