John McAfee Confirms He Has Shifted His Presidential Candidacy To The Libertarian Party
The field of candidates for the 2016 presidential election is definitely one of the most varied that we’ve seen in recent years. With that in mind, it came as no surprise to see technology figurehead John MacAfee announcing his candidacy last year. In fact, you might remember that McAfee originally announced his candidacy on a basis of cyber security, falling under the umbrella of the Cyber Party.
However, the founder of the McAffee brand has now confirmed he has shifted his presidential candidacy in order to seek the nomination of the Libertarian Party.
I am excited to announce that I will be seeking the @LPNational nomination for the 2016 Presidential Election https://t.co/8A7MQtOnXG
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) December 27, 2015
John McAfee is well known for his views regarding civil liberties, so it likely comes as no surprise to see that he’ll be campaigning for the nomination of the Libertarian Party. That being said, McAfee was keen to point out the fact that he won’t be abandoning the cyber security basis that he originally launched his campaign on.
“We’re facing a cyberwar, our power grid in America is 50 years old, and it’s aging. The technology, the computers that are running and rationing electricity across the country are completely open and vulnerable to a 13-year-old who wants to hack from anywhere in the world.
Technology I think is the biggest problem in the American government. We lack decades behind the Chinese and Russians in weaponized software.”
John McAfee quickly became a household name after founding the well-known cyber security brand, McAfee. The original software provided the first commercial anti-virus software, and his brand has remained at the forefront of the fight against malicious software into the modern day. During McAfee’s heyday, his personal wealth peaked at over $100 million until he saw declines due to the 2007 crash and other outlying factors.
That being said, McAfee has become well known for a number of other reasons in more recent years, including a number of issues with drugs and alcohol. Earlier in 2015, McAfee was arrested for possessing a handgun and driving while under the influence. These issues have certainly taken the spotlight away from John McAfee’s work in the field of technology in recent years, so it’s understandable that he is launching a presidential bid in order to become a respected household name once again. That being said, it’s still pretty surprising to see McAfee shift from his own Cyber Party to the Libertarian Party.
McAfee has been keen to point out that should he become commander in chief of the United States Armed Forces, we would see a radical shift towards cyber warfare. He has previously stated that the cyber capabilities of countries like Russia and China, as well as terrorist organizations, scare him, and he believes that the United States should be able to fight back with a full cyber arsenal of its own. Either way, the issue of cyber warfare and cyber security, in general, isn’t a stance that any one of the many other presidential candidates have taken during their campaign so far.
The other candidates John McAfee will be competing with for the Libertarian Party nomination range from engineers to actors. However, McAfee clearly believes that he stands a good chance of gaining the party’s nomination in their upcoming primary elections this year. That being said, it’s worth noting that John McAfee isn’t standing for the nomination of either of the United States’ two major parties, the Democrats or Republicans. With that in mind, it’s difficult to gauge what McAfee’s chances would actually be of getting into the White House should he gain the party’s nomination.Either way, presidential candidate is just another title that John McAfee will be adding to his resume.
[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]
