*2016 Presidential Candidate Deez Nuts Is (Are?) Libertarian [Update: Deez Responds!]

Maybe this 15-year-old joke candidate should be taken more seriously.

Dreamstime

Deez Nuts, a meme-turned independent presidential candidate polling at 8 percent in Iowa, aligns most closely with the Libertarian Party and has kind words for Gary Johnson and Bernie Sanders.

Mr. Nuts is actually a 15-year-old Iowan named Brady Olson who filled out an official filing statement and asked a polling firm to include his handle, "Deez Nuts," in their research. The strength of his candidacy—he's polling in high single-digits in several states—is a testament to the fact that early polling is meaningless.

Or is it a testament to the popularity of his libertarian-ish positions? He supports the Iran deal, gay marriage, and fiscal restraint, according to Rolling Stone:

If the candidate's platform — for balanced budgets, against illegal immigration, for gay marriage, against oil subsidies — seems a little thin, well … cut the kid some slack, America. 

Rolling Stone also interviewed him:

I'm assuming you take your political name from the Bofa meme?
Yeah

Is that some kind statement on our two-party political system?
Half trying to break the two-party system, half frustration with the front-runners

Why did you decide to run for president?
Because I really didn't want to see Clinton, Bush, or Trump in the White House, so I guess I'm just trying to put up a fight.

How would you describe your political orientation? have you ever been a registered Democrat or Republican?
I'm fifteen, so I haven't been registered yet. I side more with the Libertarian Party.  …

If you had to back another presidential candidate, who would it be?
Either Bernie Sanders(D-VT) or Gary Johnson(L-NM)

How far are you willing to take this practical joke?
As far as America wants to take it.

A North Carolina poll that pitted Deez Nuts against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton had the kid pulling in 9 percent of the vote to Trump's 40 percent and Clinton's 38 percent, with 12 percent undecided. My sense is that voters still need time to get a feel for Deez Nuts.

Olson did not immediately respond to a request for an interview.

[Updated at 4:20 p.m.] Olson answered Reason's email request for more information on his purported libertarianism. He sent the following message:

"If I had a voice in 2012, I would have endorsed Gary Johnson. For 2016, if people didn't vote for me, I would encourage them to vote for Johnson where I don't have ballot access or write in access. I side with the LP because, like me, they are generally socially left and fiscally right."

Comments

[CampingInYourPark]

In the aftermath of the Great Recession, not a few people are rightly suspicious of the sort of self-dealing that occurred in the crisis and are wary of allowing more foxes in the financial regulatory hen house. The days where a Goldman Sachs banker practices his version of noblesse oblige by volunteering for government service after making his millions seemed at an end.

Until yesterday, that is, when the Federal Reserve bank of Dallas appointed Kaplan to be its next president.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/.....14736.html

Yeah, I'm hijacking a post claiming a libertarian would like to see Bernie Sanders as POTUS.

[Suthenboy]

"The strength of his candidacy?he's polling in high single-digits in several states?is a testament to the fact that early polling is meaningless.

Or is it a testament to the popularity of his libertarian-ish positions?"

No.

I think it means that people are sick of the political class and would vote for an orangutan named Mr. Bubbles over any of the slew of wasted meat currently in the race.

[John Titor]

That, and there will always be people like me willing to respond to polling in the most ridiculous way possible as a joke.

[CampingInYourPark]

orangutan named Mr. Bubbles

Just had to trump up the article didn't you

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Bubbles was a chimp, thank you very much

[Suthenboy]

Forgive me. The Orangutan was 'Clyde'.

My mistake.

[Free Market Socialist $park?]

+1 right turn

[Brett L]

Now there's a candidate you can have a beer with.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Think of that town that elected a cat mayor, then imagine how much lower their municipal expense tab must be.

An orangutan would likely have more expensive tastes than a house cat and consume many more calories, but it would still be far less expensive than the upkeep on a human occupying the same office.

[wareagle]

I'll say it again - the support Trump says all you need to know about the current system. In the absence of real leadership, people will gravitate toward whatever sounds most like it. Trump is plain-spoken and he speaks with some conviction. He may also be full of shit but he's not larding up his speeches with poll-tested pabulum with the chief goal of not offending anyone.

[3]

What if the orangutan was a Librarian?

[Trials and Trippelations]

+1 Moving Pictures

[Citizen Nothing]

That a 15-year-old who identifies as a libertarian would find Saunders more interesting than any other candidate (other than Johnson) should not be a surprise.

[Suthenboy]

He also thinks that the Iran deal is just peachy.

[Citizen Nothing]

So fuck this progtard?
(What the hell is wrong with you people?)

[Heroic Mulatto]

Listen. A 15 year old's opinion on anything deserves deep analysis and serious attention payed to it.

[Citizen Nothing]

Duh. Isn't that why so many (apparent) 15-year-olds hang out here?

[Tejicano]

Considering the volume of ASCII being wasted on "positions" bloviated by Trump I see little reason not to.

[Suthenboy]

"What the hell is wrong with you people?"

As long as you have been hanging around here you haven't figured it out yet?

Explaining won't help.

[Cytotoxic]

Kind words for Bernie + against illegal immigration + supports a deal that will help Iran spread chaos and terror = not libertarian

[CampingInYourPark]

But he said support gay marriage so libertarianish!

[John]

Gay marriage is the measure of all things libertarian.

[Brett L]

I imagine the first gay divorces are beginning.

[Zeb]

Oh, I'm sure that's long past by now. When were the first gay marriages? 2005?

[Heroic Mulatto]

You homos can waste your vote on Deez Nuts; I'm still campaigning for Sydney's Voluptuous Buttocks.

[Zeb]

I don't know, the first thing that the buttocks tell me is that "bad" drugs should stay illegal and people forced into treatment.

I'm sticking with Deez Nuts for now.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'm willing to accept decriminalization over legalization if I can sniff it off Sydney's Voluptuous Buttocks.

[John Titor]

Indeed, Sydney's Butt appears to be a bit of an asshole.

[Free Market Socialist $park?]

Buttocks / Nuts 2016?

[Suthenboy]

I should know better by now than to click on your links but I just can't help myself.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

I can't quit you?

[Irish ?s ESB]

Sidney's Butt is the dumbest ass on the planet.

However your designer drugs and things like cocaine, meth and heroin should remain fully illegal however instead of the prison sentence routine they should be sentenced to rehab facilities because drug addiction is not a crime, it is a mental illness and it should be treated as such.

Hello, I am a butt with run on sentences composed of bad policy ideas because bad drug cocaine, no cocaine, treatment not crime.

It has been a while since their has been an update. But in this time Donald Trump has said that he is running for president and has begun a climb to the top of the Republican party. Can the American people really be that lost that they would prefer a narrow minded
illiberal racist bigot to run this country than a free thinking, open minded progressive citizen? The republicans are starting to have their true colors shown and they start gaining popularity? What is wrong with this country? This country is supposed to be a democracy, stop voting republically.

What.

[John Titor]

I really, really hope that was meant to be a parody of moronic political sloganeering.

Their 'first campaign ad' is hilarious too. It's just a couple minutes of footage of horrible war pictures. Well, I'm glad that Sydney's Butt has such a well-thought out foreign policy plan that isn't entirely based on emotional manipulation at all.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I really, really hope that was meant to be a parody of moronic political sloganeering.

It's a butt. A butt running for President.

[John Titor]

I'm aware, but some of these semi-literate positions come off like it's the actual person behind the butt(*snicker*), projecting their own politics onto this as the obvious answer. The dumb campaign ad makes it seem like they're trying to actually be passionate about this. Like I said, I hope that person was using 'republically' in satirical fashion.

[Zeb]

A lot of people seem to think they are making brilliant parody when all they are really doing is saying "look how dumb people i disagree with are"

[Pope Jimbo]

A butt running not only for the presidency, but also to establish another US dynasty.

Remember after Butt is president, his son will use the fame to launch his movie career.

His fame is represented in that fine documentary Idiocracy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGlJgU9x8tM

Sort of a reverse Reagan; go from politics to the movies

[Pan Zagloba]

Stop splitting the drunkard/12 year old at heart voting block!

[CampingInYourPark]

When confronted with an obviously broken weather station that was reading way too hot, they replaced the faulty sensor ? but refused to adjust the bad readings it had already taken. And when dealing with "the pause" in global surface temperatures that is in its 19th year, the agency threw away satellite-sensed sea-surface temperatures, substituting questionable data that showed no pause.

http://www.realclearpolicy.com....._1397.html

[Suthenboy]

"Are political considerations superseding scientific ones at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?"

Certainly this is rhetorical.

Also, the latest scandal? They come on a daily basis now, don't they?

I didn't buy this shit when they told me about it in the 70's. I never bought it. It was always an obvious scam. How anyone can still be buying into it is a mystery to me.

[Illocust]

Aren't these guys supposed to be true believers? Why would they let this crap go on. You'd think they'd want to make the case they believe is true as air tight as possible.

[Suthenboy]

They don't believe it. They never did. Back at the first climate conference in '76 Margaret Mead and her Malthusian colleagues openly declared that they needed a fake climate crisis to get their policies enacted and that they needed to get the scientific community on board with it.

Remember the guy who announced that the antarctic ice sheet was collapsing and that it was already too late to do anything about it? He is a true believer. They shut him the fuck up real quick. It can never be too late or the sense of crisis and urgency is gone therefore the scam will collapse and they won't be able to get what they want.

[Suthenboy]

http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/Articles 2007/GWHoaxBorn.pdf

It's a freakin' scam

"The common enemy of humanity is man. In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. All these dangers are caused by human intervention, and it is only through changed attitudes and behaviour that they can be overcome. The real enemy then, is humanity itself."
? Club of Rome,
premier environmental think-tank,
consultants to the United Nations

"Isn't the only hope for the planet that the
industrialized civilizations collapse?
Isn't it our responsiblity to bring that about?"
? Maurice Strong,
founder of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

[MSimon]

Air tight requires extra participants.

[R C Dean]

I think this has to be the most epic troll ever.

I hope Deez polls high enough to qualify for a seat at the next debate.

[Irish ?s ESB]

He's not old enough to be president, so how can they even let him file?

[SugarFree]

He's 48 in nut years.

[Paul.]

Has anyone said president of what?

[Citizen Nothing]

You must be a progtard, too, Dean, supporting a prog like Deez Nutz.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

#DeezNutzMatter

Stop denying his narrative with your non-Nutz privilege!!!

[Suthenboy]

If is gonna be Trump and Deez in the debate I will actually watch this time.

[Free Market Socialist $park?]

Ultimate ticket:

Cock/Balls 2016
You just know you're gonna get fucked.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

You are a fucking misogynist.

The obvious choice is:

Areola/Clitoris 2016

For more stimulus.

[Free Market Socialist $park?]

Well, I've they were willing to cross parties like in the days of yore, we could end up with

Cock/Clitoris 2016
We all know how frustrating it can be

[Tejicano]

I thought their slogan was -

It's time for Americans to come together!

[Free Market Socialist $park?]

Nah, they're pragmatists not idealists.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Should be:

Clitoris/Cock 2016

[MSimon]

VagiNuts.

[Jerry on the sea]

Master Debater / Cunning Linguist 2016.

[Illocust]

Restating my position from earlier. Putting Deez Nutz on the poll is a really smart idea. He acts as a sponge for the votes of respondents who just want to troll pollsters and ones who have no fucking clue what is going on but can't take the ego blow of voting "I don't know". I wish these types of options where more common.

[*GILMORE*]

"voters still need time to get a feel for Deez Nuts."

(judges consult, grudgingly raise their cards - USA = 8.5 Norway = 8.7, Canada = 8.6, Taiwan = 8.8, Russia = 7.9.....vicious booing)

[Princess Trigger]

I seem to remember Deez Nuts being mentioned by Nostradomus.

We are so doomed.

[Citizen Nothing]

I think Nostradomus actually wrote "Teez Nurbs", but he was obviously referring to Deez Nuts. Maybe there was a smudge.

[Free Market Socialist $park?]

Things are hazy in the ethereal future and he's French. Cut him a little slack.

[Paul.]

No, that was Doze Nuts. Totally different.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

Three months old and OT but did anyone else know that Cerberus was pressured to sell Freedom GroupRemington Outdoors after Sandy Hook but has been unable to find a buyer?

http://www.wsj.com/articles/ce.....1431733796

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05......html?_r=0

[Je suis Woodchipper]

By November 2013, all potential strategic buyers dropped out of the running for Remington and two other private equity firms dropped out or were rejected. Weeks later, Cerberus announced a plan to sell a stake in the gun maker to an unnamed partner, as well as raise hundreds of millions of dollars in new debt.

Only half of that effort succeeded, as the minority investment never materialized. The cash raised from the debt offering, however, will help pay for what amounts to a stock buyback, which is expected to be completed by mid-June.

No acceptable offers so they're buying back investments from their shareholders.

[Suthenboy]

Gun companies are not real money makers. Almost all of them are teetering on the edge all of the time. It doesn't take much to push them over the edge.

[Paul.]

I wished I'd have owned some Ruger stock before the Ammogeddon.

[Number.6]

As a stock play, as a small investor, there's money to be made, but when you actually look at the market capitalization, firearms manufacturing's not that attractive.

When Colt filed Chapter 11, I went over their financials - really, really ugly numbers.

[Joshua]

Then if a Republican (other than Kasich) wins the presidency I'll expect to see a lot of consolidation in that market. Obama's tenure has been the biggest gift they ever received.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Why is an internet prank by a 15 year old getting national attention? This is stupid.

[*GILMORE*]

Beats. Trump.

[John Titor]

At least everyone here, including the kid himself, recognizes it as a joke. The past couple weeks of actual, serious Trump support is a hell of a lot more concerning.

[Free Market Socialist $park?]

The stupidity of it is the point.

[Frank Frankelson]

I saw this and thought it was the Brewster's Millions campaign for "None of the Above" writ large.

[Paul.]

Or is it a testament to the popularity of his libertarian-ish positions? He supports the Iran deal, gay marriage, and fiscal restraint, according to Rolling Stone:

Mmm, it's a testament for peoples' bottomless desire to seek lulz.

[Paul.]

I'm fifteen, so I haven't been registered yet. I side more with the Libertarian Party. ?

If you had to back another presidential candidate, who would it be?
Either Bernie Sanders(D-VT) or Gary Johnson(L-NM)

*Drums fingers on table*

[Paul.]

Olson did not immediately respond to a request for an interview.

It's because his mother told him to take out the garbage...like an hour ago.

[Brett L]

He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

I guess I'm more libertarian, which is why I would back the national socialist.

But you're right, he's only 15. He's still probably smarter than a lot of voters.

[Paul.]

I get a very "howard dean" feel from his political philosophy. You know, Howard Dean, who also appealed largely to 15 year olds?

[The Late P Brooks]

did anyone else know that Cerberus was pressured to sell Freedom GroupRemington Outdoors after Sandy Hook but has been unable to find a buyer?
.
Yes. Thanks for asking.

[creech]

What the hell, some LP activist should legally change name to Nonov Theabov and then get the LP nomination. Probably would get the LP's highest vote total ever.

[Inigo "Chip" DuBois]

I've heard jocks support Deez Nutz.

And many of his elderly constituents want to hang with him.

Rolling Stone long since shot its wad of journalistic integrity, so I wonder if reporters eventually press him with hard questions, will things get hairy? if

[Loki]

voters still need time to get a feel for Deez Nuts

*Archer voice* "Seriously, is phrasing dead?"

[SamDod598]

Sometimes you jsut have to roll with it.

http://www.Total-Privacy.tk

[MikesterAZ]

I wish you would have taken this opportunity to be sure it's clear that Libertarians are not anti-migrant. There are enough Republicans running around confusing people about what we stand for, without Reason trumpeting unchallenged statements like this one.

Having said that, #DeezNuts2016!!

[Notorious UGCC]

Look, I know we're supposed to have a Living Constitution and everything, but don't you have to be at least 35 years old to be President?

[ant1sthenes]

He identifies as 35.

[Notorious UGCC]

Wait, an update at 4:20?

It's adolescent humor all the way down.

[IceTrey]

It's not illegal to fraudulently (fake name, too young) fill out an FEC form?

[Deez Nuts]

You should know the issues Deez Nuts weigh in on:
http://www.deeznutsforpresident.org/issues.html

[Number.6]

I think we're ready for our first Juggalo president.

[antodav]

If he sides with the Libertarian Party then having "kind words" for Bernie Sanders is completely idiotic. This kid has no idea what he's doing and it's a sad commentary on the state of this election that we are so disgruntled with the frontrunners that we might even need to suggest taking this kid seriously.

[ShagRapt]

The saddest part of the election is that the American people can overlook a candidate like Gary Johnson (L) who is: (1) a self-made millionaire starting from a handyman business that never needed to declare corporate or personal bankruptcy once (none-the-less four times), (2) an experienced, former two-term-elect Governor of New Mexico (a state that is also on that heavily debated about Mexican border) who still has the state's overwhelming support there for his reforms, and (3) a politician that did exactly what he said he would; shrink government, reduce debt&spending;, expand personal privacy and make the state a better place when he left office, then when he came into it.
Johnson was an OVERWHELMING success and a VERY REFRESHING AND WELCOME improvement to politicians and politics. The more one looks at the fields, the more one should see there is very little choice for anyone that has a better track record, reputation and sense of ethics&honesty;.

[Free Market Socialist $park?]

People used to care about whose ass it was and why it was farting and I believe that time can come again.

[Paul.]

Or batin'.

[Number.6]

Remington's - at best - a mixed bag.

They bought Rohrbaugh, a boutique gun manufacturer with a very attractive 380 mouse gun, intending to re-engineer it slightly and bring it to market in May as the RM380.

Still no sign, and it's August. A fair number of industry loudmouths are talking about the situation, and stirring up memories of all the previous recalls. Customer service seems to be very poor - I personally know 3 gun owners who have had really crappy experiences in the last year with Remington.

And don't get me started on Remington ammo.

Remington (and by extension, maybe the whole of Freedom Group) is the firearms equivalent of Corel Corporation, acquiring respectable, if boring manufacturers with mediocre earnings, and running them into the ground.