Most Americans can name the current 2016 presidential nominee frontrunners—Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
With election season looming ahead, ubiquitous political advertisements have transformed them into household names. But these candidates are not the only contenders for the Oval office: Independent candidate Deez Nuts is also vying for the Presidency.
When asked if he had heard about Deez Nuts, Science teacher Michael Hu said, “Anybody who has the name Deez Nuts should not be taken seriously, because they are nuts.” Freshman Sydney Settsu likened the question to a segment from Jimmy Kimmel, where they quiz random people to test their knowledge on current events.
But while he may seem like an internet hoax, Deez Nuts is a real person who has applied to be a presidential candidate. Actually a 15-year old Iowa resident called Brady C. Olson, he was noticed by the news media recently after a recent North Carolina poll had 9% of voters selecting him over Clinton and Trump for the presidency. And he is not alone in his seemingly playful bid: Over 1000 people across the United States have applied to run for president, many of them under fake names like Elsa is Bae, Ronald Reagan’s Ghost, Sydney’s Voluptuous Buttocks, and Captain Crunch. To test out the application process, Eagle Eye staff visited the Federal Election Committee website and found that it was easy to put in an application—candidates just need to fill out a form to register as a 2016 candidate.
[one_third] The official Deez Nuts for President 2016 Facebook page has over 25,000 likes. [/one_third]
But while it is easy to sign up to run, actually making it onto the official ballot is harder. The Federal Elections Commission rules require that candidates have at least $5000 to his or her name, and a campaign manager. And there’s that little problem of having to be 35 years and older. But this doesn’t seem to stem the overwhelming wave of applicants.
Senior Deborah Kobayashi opined that “[people are] taking everything as a joke,” and that “they should take it more seriously.” Others, like sophomore Kiana Oka said that she would vote for them because “their names sound cool.” Senior Nathan Hishinuma simply responded by saying these candidates were “trolls.”
Meanwhile, the rest of America seems happy to jump on the Deez Nuts bandwagon. Deez Nuts was the number one trending topic on Twitter when the news first came out, and currently, the official Deez Nuts for President 2016 Facebook page has over 25,000 likes. The Minnesota Independent Party even hosted a meet and greet with Olson at the Minnesota State Fair.
When the Sioux City Journal recently interviewed Olson on why he applied to run for President, he stated, “[I thought] that’d be interesting, and, I filled out the form and it was official.” The media took notice two days later.
As to why the public responded with so much enthusiasm, Social Studies teacher Lynne Nakano speculated that “as Americans, perhaps we don’t take our research of who’s a good candidate seriously. And maybe we’re a bit frustrated sometimes at our government right now, so a lot of people are protest voting right now.”
Hu stated, “Well, I think it makes life fun, otherwise… we would just have to listen to Trump. So why don’t we have these less known people that have no platform, no idea, no chance in heck, let them go so that we can at least enjoy ourselves.”
The full list of Presidential candidate applicants can be viewed at the Federal Election Commission website.
