Blogger-for-president to 'campaign' in Ottawa County

PORT CLINTON — Promising to devote the bulk of his time to campaigning in Ottawa County, nationally prominent blogger Scott Alexander has launched a tongue-in-cheek campaign for U.S. president. Alexander announced his campaign Tuesday in his Substack newsletter, Astral Codex Ten, laying out his platform, such as his plan to make Donald Trump a constitutional monarch and to have billionaires such as Elon Musk pay for new U.S. warships. He vowed to enter the primaries for both major parties, "to double my chances." For those hoping to meet Alexander, a married psychiatrist who practices in San Francisco, they may be out of luck, as his promise to campaign in the Port Clinton area might not be 100% serious. "For the past 50 years, whoever won Ottawa County, Ohio, has won the overall election. So to stretch my limited resources more efficiently, I'll be focusing my entire campaign on Ottawa County. Sure, some people say 'causal reasoning doesn't work that way', but these are the same so-called 'experts' who said Trump couldn't win in 2016. So if you know someone in Ottawa County, please tell them about my ideas," he wrote. Alexander's article did not comment on the fact that although Donald Trump carried Ottawa County by a wide margin in 2020, Joe Biden currently serves as president. About his plan to give Trump a new job as America's new constitutional monarch, Alexander wrote, "The British experience suggests that the role of a constitutional monarch is to flaunt how rich they are, get 24/7 news coverage regardless of whether or not they do anything interesting and have scandals. Donald Trump is the best person in the world at all three of these things." He continued: "Trump wants to be on top but is not that interested in governing. Meanwhile, American liberals, by revealed preference, want to continue thinking about him every hour of every day forever but also don't want him to govern. Constitutional monarchy would satisfy everyone's preferences," he wrote. Alexander's platform also calls for boosting U.S. national security reviving the ancient Athenian practice of having rich people pay for and command warships. "Imagine the fear it would strike into the hearts of the Chinese when the USS Musk enters Ludicrous Mode in the waters off the Taiwan Strait, with Elon himself at the wheel. Imagine how efficiently the USS Jeff Bezos will deliver its payloads," he wrote. Alexander also proposes making the current governor of West Virginia, Jim Justice, a member of the Supreme Court, forcing Americans to address him as "Justice Justice." Better yet, if the governor could be adopted as the leader of a Native American tribe, he could become "Chief Justice Chief Justice," replacing John Roberts. More information on the platform is available at astralcodexten.com. Alexander's website does not have a "contact" feature, and so the Register was unable to ask Alexander when he plans to campaign in northern Ohio. Former Republican Congressional candidate J.R. Majewski, who carried Ottawa County in 2022, is arguably Ottawa County's best-known political figure. Majewski told the Register he would consider meeting Alexander and showing him the local political ropes if Alexander comes to Ottawa County. "That would be funny actually," Majewski said.