# America's first Celebrity President will be elected in 2016 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 25, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693 "2011-10-25T01:12:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693/81 "2017-01-16T19:45:36Z")
Democrats a little slow, but even they have caught on by now… > **[Democrats Should Run a Celebrity for President, Too](https://newrepublic.com/article/139756/democrats-run-celebrity-president)** > > It worked for Republicans—twice. And charismatic candidates like Barack Obama and Bill Clinton don't appear every four years. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693/82 "2017-01-16T20:11:26Z")
**Hyperelastic the Magnificent** , can you look into your crystal ball and let me know what the Powerball lottery numbers are? I promise to break you off a piece. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693/83 "2017-01-17T21:21:20Z")
What if every election was a contest between celebrities? The way things are going, it seems possible. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693/84 "2017-01-17T21:22:44Z")
George Clooney for President. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693/85 "2017-01-18T04:07:25Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > Game over, folks. Thanks for playing. > > Who’ll run against him in 2020? Kanye? Jon Stewart? It’s never too early to start thinking about it. Hyperelastic, you magnificent bastard, I read your thread! ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693/86 "2017-01-18T09:06:57Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > Democrats a little slow, but even they have caught on by now… > > [Democrats Should Run a Celebrity for President, Too | The New Republic](https://newrepublic.com/article/139756/democrats-run-celebrity-president) I’d put these down as stars who could probably make it to the position. No idea what their politics are, though. Could be Republicans. Will Smith Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Sandra Bullock Madonna Brad Pitt ---
**Author:** ![Sammie222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sammie222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sammie222)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693/87 "2017-01-18T10:15:28Z")
All right guys! Let’s see the development after Jan 20. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693/88 "2017-01-18T10:52:28Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I’d put these down as stars who could probably make it to the position. No idea what their politics are, though. Could be Republicans. > > Will Smith > Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson > Sandra Bullock > Madonna > Brad Pitt Madonna is famously a Clintonista, and made an offer, thought serious by some, to give a blow-job to everyone who voted for Hillary. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693/89 "2017-01-18T14:45:52Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > I predict that in 2016 the US will elect its first Celebrity President, meaning a person who is already famous for something other than politics and has not held elected office before. > > Why? Attention spans are becoming shorter, people are getting stupider, and campaign managers are getting more cunning and ruthless. Even today it must take immense restraint not to paste a carefully calibrated set of positions onto someone like Will Smith and watch the votes pile up. The promise of instantly huge name recognition even among people who normally don’t vote, experience before the camera, and an existing managed persona make it inevitable. > > We have already had Celebrity Governors (Reagan, Schwarzenegger and Ventura) and several Celebrity Congressmen (Franken and surely others). The Presidency is the next logical step. > > Who will it be? George Clooney? Oprah? An athlete? Or someone who isn’t even famous yet? Holy shit!!! You could have gotten 100 to 1 odds on Trump at various moments during the election. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693/90 "2017-01-18T15:29:50Z")
But, sadly, he didn’t name Trump as a possibility. It would have bene hard to get odds on “a celebrity President.” Legit action is specific. Still, we must applaud Hyperelastic for what has to be the most intelligently prescient posts in the SDMB’s history. The challenge is on: Name the celebrity who will dethrone Trump! Michael Moore has already suggested either Oprah Winfrey or Tom Hanks; it strikes me as being obvious that Winfrey would do it but Hanks would not. Winfrey is limitlessly ambitious; Hanks appears to be pretty happy being an actor. Why not Oprah? She’s richer than Croesus, charismatic, egotistical, and clever. She’s from a Democratic stronghold. She has _immense_ influence. She knows how to work the media - shit, she has her own magazine. She would continue a streak of Presidents with funny names (which is why her VP nominee should be Tammy Duckworth to ensure that continues even if something happens to her.) Her only drawback is she’d be a bit old - 66 - but she’s still be younger than Trump or Clinton and she seems pretty energetic. I’ll call it; assuming Mike Pence does not become President due to the incapacitation or death of Donald Trump, the 46th President of the United States will be Oprah Gail Winfrey. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693/91 "2017-01-18T16:04:27Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > So, I’ll modify my assertion thusly: a celebrity is someone who has not only never held office, but has no particular experience running a large enterprise of any kind. A pure personality, if you will. I suppose that excludes Oprah. I’m talking more like a Dr. Phil or a Geraldo Rivera. Not to be a party pooper but I think that whether you think he’s a good business man or not, the Trump Organization is a fairly large enterprise. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693/92 "2017-01-18T19:46:00Z")
Meh, he was close enough the first time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-first-celebrity-president-will-be-elected-in-2016/600693.md?page=4)