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A West Virginia resident has filed a campaign with the Federal Election Committee on behalf of actor/wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for the 2020 US presidential election. The FEC doesn't recognize this as an official campaign, but Johnson hasn't ruled out a 2020 run.

How does Wintreath feel about potential celebrity candidates? Similar rumors for the presidency have popped up about rapper Kanye West and others.

And how does everyone feel about filing for the 2020 election this early?

Earlier related discussion: Kanye 2020?

I'm pro Defranco 2020 but I'm open to anyone but Trump at this point. There's been so much shit with minority rights and other things that affect me that it's beyond crazy at this point. Anything would be better than another conservative as fuck presidency.

I'd be okay with "The Rock" as president only if he stayed in his "The Rock Obama" character.
Otherwise, he would just be another rich celebrity would wants to buy his way into office. Like Trump, but without the racism and with less sexism.

My preference for celebrities in the White House remains Neil deGrasse Tyson/Bill Nye.

And how does everyone feel about filing for the 2020 election this early?

With how things are going right now, I can understand the eagerness to start looking for a replacement ASAP.

I'd like ahnold if he could run. Trump will probably win 2020 at this rate tho. I just don't see a democratic candidate that could really bring the people that matter (rust belt voters) back into the blue. I've heard Kamala Harris being touted, but who the fuck is she appealing to? She's a Californian. California is already in the blue. You don't get the Midwest back by pushing more coastal neoliberals. They could try running Bernie again and not stab him in the back this time, but I think it's a little too late for that. And god forbid we get Mark Zuckerberg into the White House...
*shudders*

I've read that Bernie Sanders hasn't ruled out running again, but that Kamala Harris or Cory Booker is what the Democratic establishment is pushing atm.

I actually don't think a celebrity as president is a good thing...celebrities might be good at campaigning and winning election because they already have a base of fans and are probably adept with using social media and knowing what to say to people and being charismatic, but I don't think those qualities translate to being a good president. There may be exceptions to that, but I think that's the rule generally.

What I want for president is somebody who is knowledgeable with the issues and things going on in the world today and has worked with some of them...who has experience governing or leading something, and who preferably has consistently supported and defended the rights of the people. When people vote in a celebrity to such a high office, especially without prior experience, it makes me wonder how seriously people take the office and the real problems that office faces.

I've read that Bernie Sanders hasn't ruled out running again, but that Kamala Harris or Cory Booker is what the Democratic establishment is pushing atm.

I actually don't think a celebrity as president is a good thing...celebrities might be good at campaigning and winning election because they already have a base of fans and are probably adept with using social media and knowing what to say to people and being charismatic, but I don't think those qualities translate to being a good president. There may be exceptions to that, but I think that's the rule generally.

What I want for president is somebody who is knowledgeable with the issues and things going on in the world today and has worked with some of them...who has experience governing or leading something, and who preferably has consistently supported and defended the rights of the people. When people vote in a celebrity to such a high office, especially without prior experience, it makes me wonder how seriously people take the office and the real problems that office faces.

Problems with Cory include that he doesn't want to run, has connections with THE_ZUCK.jpg, and is an unmarried vegan. A VEGAN. That's like the antithesis to everything America stands for. And the thing is, there really aren't a whole lot of experienced democrats who want to leave their cushioned, gerrymandered congressional seats. The one that really comes to mind was Hillary, and she had all the charisma of a chipotle enema and got beaten twice in her bids for president. She's getting on in years and isn't likely to run again, and the Clinton family as a whole is turning into a stillborn dynasty. Biden is probably the only experienced candidate left, and he might just be too old to still be in the running. He's even older than Trump, and he looks it. It's the same problem some people had with Bernie in 2016 or on the flip side, McCain in 2008: They're afraid he's going to die in office. Being president is really stressful, and Obama looks like he's aged 20 years in 8. They might have to roll Biden out of the White House in an Iron Lung.

But at this rate, it looks like a lotta Republicans intend to stab Trump in the back and either impeach him or run against him.

And yes, I think the Democrats putting forward a Kamala Harris or Cory Booker would be tantamount to shooting their Presidential campaign in the head. What does Kamala Harris stand for? Who is she? Practically another Obama and that will not get the same results they got before. Problem is, other than Bernie Sanders who is getting old, alas, who would the Democrats put up? Al Franken? To boring nowadays. Any Senators? It's a parade of who from where? Governors? Same thing. I don't see a capable Democratic Candidate.

who would the Democrats put up? Al Franken?

As a fellow Minnesotan, I would definitely support Al Franken for president.

I think I said it before...if Trump loses his base of support, expect impeachment or a lot of pressure for Trump to resign, cause Republicans know they can get more done with Pence than Trump. They're just afraid of incurring the wrath of Trump's vocal supporters.

On the Democratic side, I don't know. For all her flaws, it's not like Hillary lost by a landslide...she even won the popular vote. I'm not sure they even need a horribly charismatic person this time, though I admit it would help. I'm guessing there'll be another battle between progressives and the establishment, but it'll be hard to tell to what extent...will it be restricted mostly to the presidential primaries like they were last year, or will progressives cultivate candidates to run against establishment congressmen, governors, etc.

I'd say look to next year's elections too...if Democrats underperform again and fail to retake the House at least, progressives will be furious and almost certainly blame it in the establishment. You could see even more pressure for Nancy Pelosi to step down as Minority Leader, and more efforts to unseat establishment figures in 2020.

who would the Democrats put up? Al Franken?

As a fellow Minnesotan, I would definitely support Al Franken for president.

As a fellow Minnesotan (by decent, my dad's from Pine Island) I also like Al Franken but even I admit it would be difficult for him to become President. To....sedentary now. If he had been a fiery Senator, not afraid to buck the trend, instead of the milquetoast timid person he is now he would be in with a shot.

My preference for celebrities in the White House remains Neil deGrasse Tyson/Bill Nye.

I respect NdGT as a science communicator, but beyond that, not so much... One thing he does have in common with our current president is constantly showing up on the front page of /r/iamverysmart.

Example

I think I said it before...if Trump loses his base of support, expect impeachment or a lot of pressure for Trump to resign, cause Republicans know they can get more done with Pence than Trump. They're just afraid of incurring the wrath of Trump's vocal supporters.

On the Democratic side, I don't know. For all her flaws, it's not like Hillary lost by a landslide...she even won the popular vote. I'm not sure they even need a horribly charismatic person this time, though I admit it would help. I'm guessing there'll be another battle between progressives and the establishment, but it'll be hard to tell to what extent...will it be restricted mostly to the presidential primaries like they were last year, or will progressives cultivate candidates to run against establishment congressmen, governors, etc.

I'd say look to next year's elections too...if Democrats underperform again and fail to retake the House at least, progressives will be furious and almost certainly blame it in the establishment. You could see even more pressure for Nancy Pelosi to step down as Minority Leader, and more efforts to unseat establishment figures in 2020.

Well, if this election has proved anything, it's that winning the popular vote doesn't count for shit. The democrats need to retake the Midwest if they have any hope of an electoral victory, and a coastal establishment politician isn't going to do that. They need another Bill Clinton. Not necessarily in his exact politics and definitely not his personality, but his broad appeal to American voters. Trump has been in a spat with his congressional colleagues since he took office, and eight months in he has yet to be removed. He needs an actual, concrete scandal that his supporters would actually pause for something like that to happen. CNN anchors calling the Russia angle a "nothing burger" have all but killed that line. The controversy would have to be something entirely new that the media hasn't been blasting him about since the election, otherwise his supporters will just assume it's another nothing burger.

My preference for celebrities in the White House remains Neil deGrasse Tyson/Bill Nye.

I respect NdGT as a science communicator, but beyond that, not so much... One thing he does have in common with our current president is constantly showing up on the front page of /r/iamverysmart.

Example

Edit: Nvm.

(Edit: Ignore this, given the lameness of that guy's response, your post makes far more sense if I assume you're being sarcastic. I seriously need to get better at recognizing online sarcasm, without facial queues I never seem to pick up on it immediately. I see the others who liked your post already picked up on that immediately, I should have to.)

Not too dissuaded if that's the best example. A lot of people, mostly religious conservatives and edgy teenage boys, don't seem to like him for having a show that implied that evolution and other things backed by science are real, and I've seen a lot of poor attempts by trolls to refute everything he says, especially on twitter. None of them are especially clever. They don't seem to be aware of that though. If this random guy thinks he actually made a point, it must be very confusing to him that NDT is still a respected and popular scientist, while I've already forgotten this guy's name from about 1 minute ago. Seems like a lot of small name/big ego people like to post things, then immediately take a screenshot and try to share it as if that makes their post more valid or important somehow, kinda sad really seeing his tiny amount of likes for his response. And I thought I had low self-esteem... trying to (badly) refute NGT is some kind of reddit fad now? Very sad.

Would have replied immediately, but honestly, that guy's response was so lame that it wasn't even obvious that he was making an attempt to refute the original post, I had to look at it again just for that to be clear. NDT would easily win the election, if there were any hint that he intended to run, and he ended up against this guy. Like, NDT would say something about the stock market, and random twitter guy would say "If only there was a name for a MARKET that has STOCKS!" and then he'd have a smug smile as if he said the smartest thing ever, and then it would be posted on reddit apparently.

Well, if this election has proved anything, it's that winning the popular vote doesn't count for shit. The democrats need to retake the Midwest if they have any hope of an electoral victory, and a coastal establishment politician isn't going to do that. They need another Bill Clinton. Not necessarily in his exact politics and definitely not his personality, but his broad appeal to American voters. Trump has been in a spat with his congressional colleagues since he took office, and eight months in he has yet to be removed. He needs an actual, concrete scandal that his supporters would actually pause for something like that to happen. CNN anchors calling the Russia angle a "nothing burger" have all but killed that line. The controversy would have to be something entirely new that the media hasn't been blasting him about since the election, otherwise his supporters will just assume it's another nothing burger.

I didn't say the popular vote wins elections, I was just saying that for all of Hillary Clinton's unique flaws, her campaign was hardly the disaster some people make it out to be...at the end of the day, she barely lost, and had the result been slightly different in a few states she probably would have won. We could go on in detail about what she and her campaign did wrong, and we have in other topics, but I don't think she'll be a serious contender in 2020 even if she did want to run again, so it's not relevant here.

What Democrats need to do is to come together on an economic platform that appeals to the average person, and then they need to proudly stand by it and explain how it's going to help actual people, and be able to counter criticisms such as the cost of doing it and stuff. I don't think the actual policy is important in terms of winning the election, though of course there are policies I'd personally prefer, I think the important thing is that they stand for something.

As for Trump, he's had the support of at least 70% of Republicans for the last 8 months, but now even support in his own base seems to be eroding. Whatever controversies and spats he gets into, they don't matter so long as Republicans stand by him...it's when they stop doing so that he's in political trouble. And he doesn't necessarily have to be removed, he could be pressured to resign instead...many people think at some point he will get fed up and resign as it is.