Ex-Politico CEO Courts Silicon Valley With Bizarre ‘Third Party’ Op-Ed

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In a Monday newspaper column that borrows heavily from the language of Silicon Valley disruptors, former Politico CEO Jim VandeHei laid out a barely cogent “template” for usurping the order of “Establishment America.”

Among VandeHei’s suggestions in The Wall Street Journal were to demolish the “bubble” of Washington, D.C. by hosting meetings of Congress at different locales around “Normal America” and recruiting a political outsider who’s more palatable than Donald Trump or Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to run as a third-party presidential candidate.

The Politico co-founder, who recently departed that company to start a new media venture, also bafflingly suggested an outsider candidate “exploit the fear factor.”

“People are scared. Terrorism is today’s World War and Americans want a theory for dealing with it,” VandeHei wrote.

He continued: “A third-party candidate could build on death-by-drones by outlining the type of modern weapons, troops and war powers needed to keep America safe. And make plain when he or she will use said power. Do it with very muscular language—there is no market for nuance in the terror debate.”

The column reached a bewildering conclusion when VandeHei named the public figures who could lead what he suggested be called “The Innovation Party.”

“Why not recruit Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg to head a third-party movement?” VandeHei wrote. “Maybe we can convince Michael Bloomberg to help fund the movement with the billions he planned to spend on his own campaign—and then recruit him to run Treasury and advise the president.”

The column was met with nearly universal ire and mockery. Slate called the take “vapid” and “deranged,” while Huffington Post said VandeHei’s ideal candidate “is a Vladimir Putin type who’s fun on Twitter and can hold court at the Aspen Ideas Festival.”

Others said the column was a thinly-veiled ploy to attract venture capital for his new company.

This post has been updated.

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Notable Replies

  1. Tip : “Normal America” means people who vote for republicans
    Bonus Tip : People that think terrorism is like a World War are also republicans

  2. death-by-drones

    Are we talking pundits or robot planes?

  3. Avatar for marby marby says:

    "The column was met with nearly universal ire and mockery" - sounds about right.

  4. Avatar for jeffs jeffs says:

    VandeHei wouldn’t know “normal” America if it bit him in the ass.

  5. "VandeHei laid out a barely cogent “template” "

    Katherine, tell us what you really think.

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