Former Alaska senator launches meme-filled 2020 primary campaign
Meet Mike Gravel.
The post Former Alaska senator launches meme-filled 2020 primary campaign appeared first on The Daily Dot.
You can be forgiven for not knowing who Mike Gravel is, even though he spent all last night earning the affection of left-leaning Twitter. Gravel is the former Democratic senator from Alaska who garnered a tenth of a percent in the New Hampshire presidential primaries in 2008 before bowing out and ran on an anti-imperialist platform.
And yet, #GravelGang is suddenly a thing online.
— Senator Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019
Hmm…#GravelGang. I like the sound of that.
— Senator Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019
Mike Gravel, it appears, is back. A populist progressive, Gavel has lobbied for direct democracy, universal healthcare, and withdrawal from entanglements abroad. He may have minimal name recognition, but he blew up Twitter by announcing he was running for the Democratic nomination, attacking just about every 2020 candidate for their inadequate stances on policies he’s held for a long time.
The 2020 Democratic field pretends to progressivism, but don't buy the lie. @KamalaHarris kept innocent men on death row. @JoeBiden voted for the Iraq War. @CoryBooker invented a drug dealer friend (and voted with Big Pharma).
— Senator Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019
And his tweets are gaining popularity. Gravel went after Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) for Booker’s performance in the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, highlighting his own activism on the Senate floor.
.@CoryBooker melodramatically declared releasing inconsequential files on Brett Kavanaugh his "Spartacus moment." This is me, in 1971, reading the Pentagon Papers into the record for hours on end, risking expulsion from the Senate. That's real courage, Cory. pic.twitter.com/DE2gQs3Huj
— Senator Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019
And he attacked Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) for her support of the death penalty. Gravel’s also not terrible at pushing his ideas memetically, especially given that he’s 88.
WOKE: Mike Gravel, opposing capital punishment back in the 1970s
BROKE: #KillerKamalaHarris (@kamalaharris) helping keep innocent Kevin Cooper on death row.https://t.co/IraORxBm9t
— Senator Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019
#KillerKamalaHarris just came around to supporting marijuana legalization, even though she smoked it herself in college.
Meanwhile, I've served as the CEO of two marijuana companies.#GravelGang#Gravel2020https://t.co/uj35vUUuKR
— Senator Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019
He also flagged former Vice President Joe Biden’s support of the Iraq War.
i sure do hope the faucets at @JoeBiden's house are strong, with the amount of Iraqi blood on his hands#Gravel2020#GravelGang pic.twitter.com/OyQ95fNNay
— Senator Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019
And he worked in a solid dig at Amy Klobuchar.
.@amyklobuchar it's hard to fight the big tech firms that abuse American workers when you also like to abuse American workers pic.twitter.com/ew4ZAP7ey6
— Senator Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019
There was even an explicit call for the jailing of Henry Kissinger, Dick Cheney, and Elliot Abrams, a popular plank in progressive circles (even if it’ll never happen). Gravel wants to take on the surveillance state and reverse the expansion of the imperial presidency, which became an accepted norm well before Trump.
Mike Gravel 2020 starter pack pic.twitter.com/E8OIJD2AD4
— Senator Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019
It's simply not enough to go back to "the pre-Trump normal." Because the pre-Trump normal meant drone strikes, forever, massacres, and mass surveillance. Pre-Trump gave us Trump. The way to escape the hell of Trump is by finding something better, not just returning to the old.
— Senator Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019
The former senator isn’t in it to win it, per se, but to make sure anti-interventionist ideals get the airtime they deserve.
If I run, I'd run not to win, but to push great candidates like @BernieSanders and @TulsiGabbard toward more sensible views on political reform and foreign policy through the debates. We need a strong left flank for strong policy.
— Senator Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019
This is a campaign to remake the Democratic Party, expand the Overton Window, and push other candidates leftward. And for that, we need your donations to qualify for the debates. Not right now, but SOON.
So please follow + please get everyone you know to follow.#GravelGang
— Senator Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019
Not being in it to win it isn’t a problem in 2020, anyway.
READ MORE:
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Thanks to changes to the primary process, the DNC greatly lowered the thresholds for the debate stage, meaning that someone like Gravel could end up challenging candidates on air. All he needs is 65,000 people to donate to his campaign.
And if the past year has been any indication, even a small group of people stridently supporting a position can have a huge impact on the platforms of other candidates.
The post Former Alaska senator launches meme-filled 2020 primary campaign appeared first on The Daily Dot.