For those too young to remember, Ross Perot was basically the first Donald Trump.
He was a quirky, interesting, patriotic rich guy, who we should have elected in 1992.
He did pretty good.
But the media was so controlled back then without the internet that it just wasn’t possible for a guy like him to win.
Dallas Morning News:
Ross Perot, self-made billionaire, renowned patriot and two-time independent candidate for U.S. president, has died after a five-monthbattle with leukemia.
He was 89.
The pioneer of the computer services industry, who founded Electronic Data Systems Corp. in 1962 and Perot Systems Corp. 26 years later, was just 5-foot-6, but his presence filled a room.
“Describe my father?” Ross Perot Jr., his only son and CEO of the Perot Group, asked rhetorically in an interview. “Obviously a great family man, wonderful father. But at the end of the day, he was a wonderful humanitarian.
“Every day he came to work trying to figure out how he could help somebody.”
Perot was diagnosed with leukemia in February. A massive secondary infection the next month nearly killed him, according to the family.
In true Perot fashion, he fought back, showing up at the office most days in his dark suit with the omnipresent American flag on his lapel.
Perot entertained a steady stream of well-wishers at Perot headquarters on Turtle Creek Boulevard and spent Easter with his family at their compound in Bermuda.
He celebrated his 89th birthday in June with a family lunch at his office and a dinner at the home of his daughter, Carolyn Perot Rathjen.
That article goes on to give a full account of his life and accomplishments, for those interested.
Some people say that Perot was promoted in 1992 as a spoiler to keep George H.W. Bush from winning a second term after he pissed off the Israelis. This is most likely true. But it wasn’t Ross’ fault. Ross was just trying to save America from globalism.
He was the first major political figure to ever go against the free trade hoax, and famously referred to NAFTA as “a giant sucking sound.” Both Bush and Clinton supported NAFTA, wanting all of our American treasure to get sucked out for the benefit of an elite minority.
If you wrote an alternative history where Perot would have won in 1992, we would not be dealing with most of the problems we are dealing with right now. Or maybe he would have just been destroyed like Donald Trump has been destroyed, and nothing would have changed. Probably that, I guess.
But it’s still fun to think about.
Perot was also an inspiration to all manlets.
He was famously played by Dana Carvey on Saturday Night Live, back when that show was still funny.
Inspiringly, Perot’s last political act was to make a donation to Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.
Fox News:
In his last documented political act, self-made billionaire and two-time presidential candidate Ross Perot wrote out two checks to President Trump’s re-election campaign before succumbing to his battle with leukemia at the age of 89, according to a report.
Perot, who ran for president as a third-party candidate in 1992 and 1996, is largely credited with providing a road map for Trump’s presidential campaign.
Like Trump, Perot ran as a billionaire populist against the Republican establishment. His focus on the North American Free Trade Agreement – rather than the national debt – and his use of cable news for laying out his agenda were both familiar elements of Trump’s campaign.
As Democratic strategist James Carville put it in a 2016 podcast: “If Donald Trump is the of Jesus of the disenchanted, displaced non-college white voter, then Perot was the John the Baptist of that sort of movement.”
I hope that Trump takes this to heart, and thinks some more about just what the hell he is doing.