Pro-Crypto POTUS Candidates: All Three Against Ukraine?
Supporting crypto and wanting to become President of the United States? Yup, there are POTUS candidates like that. Yet, their geopolitical views are debatable – to say the least.
Who supports crypto in the US?
Not all. But it appears that this doesn’t apply to these three POTUS candidates: Democrat Robert Kennedy Jr. and Republicans Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Let’s take a closer look at these three and find out why some of their views are controversial.
Fighting “Biden’s war on crypto”
Robert Kennedy Jr., a member of the Kennedy political clan with a dark side to him, is among the most ardent fans of Bitcoin, owning up to 250 thousand worth of it.
In May 2023, Kennedy Jr. announced that he would accept campaign donations in Bitcoin. He also has repeatedly embraced the mother-of-all-crypto with the goal of preserving the individual’s financial freedom.
His recent speech has only served to underscore his love for Bitcoin, wherein he asserted BTC’s value in terms of civil liberties.
“I am a long life defender of civil liberty; Bitcoin is both an exercise and a guarantee of those freedoms,” he said.
Then there’s Ron DeSantis, Florida’s well-known Republican governor who was once skeptical of COVID lockdowns. A zealous critic of the government’s endeavor to introduce the digital dollar, promising to ban it should he become POTUS, he stated in July that “Biden’s war on bitcoin and cryptocurrency will come to an end when I am president.”
DeSantis did not specify which war exactly he’s referring to, but it appears that it has to do with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) crackdown on the crypto industry, including Coinbase and Binance.
Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is likewise fond of Bitcoin. Recently, he took a swipe at what he calls the “shadow” U.S. government, talking about “unlawful rogue behaviors of “3-letter government agencies”.
Although Ramaswamy did not specify what this means, there is a high chance that he was also talking about the SEC and its mentioned crackdown.
He also praised Grayscale’s recent victory over the federal securities regulator, claiming that it’d help keep Bitcoin and blockchain innovation from not ending outside the country. And pledged that on Day 1, – presumably of his presidency – “I will rescind *all* federal regulations that fail the Supreme Court’s test in West Virginia vs. EPA - which quite literally includes *most* federal regulations. We’ll get it done.”
But what about their geopolitical views?
This is where it gets interesting.
In spite of being pro-civil liberties, none of these candidates appears to be supporting Ukraine – a country that suffers from Russia’s ongoing aggression, condemned by the absolute majority of UN member states.
On the contrary, they seem to genuinely dislike it, flirting with the idea of giving the aggressor Russia whatever it wants and thus opting out of the war.
In this respect, Ramaswamy truly stands out.
In a recent debate between Republican candidates, he expressed opinions that range from contentious to, well honestly, outrageous. Not only does he intend to block Ukraine's accession to NATO and lift countless sanctions imposed on Russia, but also wants to recognize Russia's control over the occupied territories of Ukraine. He says that he is willing to do this in order to stop Russia from getting closer to China, which has been reportedly helping Moscow in its aggression against Ukraine.
Robert Kennedy Jr. is, arguably, less extreme in his views. However, he consistently promotes the idea that the US should stop supporting Ukraine in its attempt to preserve its sovereignty and reclaim its territory. And has also interviewed Scott Ritter, the well-known pro-Russian commentator and a convicted pedophile. In 2011, Ritter exposed himself on a web camera when chatting with an undercover police officer who said he was a 15-year-old girl.
One of these chats took place in April 2023, with the self-explanatory title “Ukraine is going to Lose this War”. While some of the comments on YouTube were supportive of Kennedy and Ritter, others wrote highly critical ones including “All the Kremlin's mouthpieces gathered, what a sight!” And the even more sarcastic: “So far all of Ritter's predictions were right, right? RIGHT??”
Spoiler: None of Ritter’s predictions were right.
In this crowd, Ron DeSantis appears to be somewhat more pro-Ukraine – though in relative terms.
In March 2023, he described Russia’s aggression against Ukraine as a “territorial dispute”. However, following criticism from other Republicans, he walked back on his statement.
While he has not made too many comments since, in a recent debate he did note that Europe needs to step up in terms of military contribution, adding “I’m going to have Europe step up and do their job.”
Do they have a chance to win?
The short answer is no. None of these candidates enjoys high levels of support as of today.
DeSantis is lagging significantly behind the Republican’s main candidate Donald Trump with just 14.8% support as opposed to the Donald’s 50.3%. Even though the latter was arrested, booked, and released at Fulton County Jail in Georgia election case a week ago. His mug shot expectedly went viral.
Ramaswamy has an even lower chance of becoming the Republican Party’s chief candidate, securing 9.2% of support in Republican primary polls. In a more unexpected twist, he also recently received a cease-and-desist letter from Eminem who asked him to never again perform his song “Lose Yourself” after Ramaswamy called Trump "the best president of the 21st century.”
Meanwhile, Kennedy, who admittedly has support from some major tech bros like Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey and the founding COO and product leader of PayPal David Sacks due to his anti-establishment sentiment, is nowhere close to the incumbent Joe Biden’s popularity. Biden enjoys 63% of support in the Democratic primary polls while the respective percent for Kennedy is just above 13%.
This likely leaves us with a looming standoff between Biden and Trump, again.
Previously, Gagarin News reported that the US restricts chip exports to some eastern countries.
