 So I've been a cord cutter for almost 10 years, you know, I don't watch television I own a television, but I don't have cables what I'm trying to say But on Thanksgiving I was at my mom's house and she had the TV on and even though we weren't really paying attention I did notice that within the span of a half an hour there were only two political ads that came on there were presidential campaign ads for Tom Steyer and Mike Bloomberg the two billionaires that are running for president and really that fact shouldn't be lost on anyone We should never not be outraged About the fact that we have not one But two billionaires currently trying to buy the nomination and the way that they're trying to buy the nomination is by flooding Media markets right overwhelming Everyone all the other candidates spending more than them so that way they overcome the obstacle that a lot of politicians face name recognition So if they just blast the airwaves with their ads again and again and again We're gonna add through TV and Facebook then they believe that they can boost their name enough to end up winning They are effectively buying the nomination. It's dangerous. This really It's not good for democracy. It's not democracy. It's anti-antithetical to democracy to have two billionaires trying to do this But one thing that I am delighted to learn is that buying the nomination Isn't as easy as I initially thought because what's happening is we're seeing this backfire on at least one of them So Tom Steyer is overwhelming the media market in New Hampshire, which obviously is an early primary state very important And it's gotten to the point where he has run so many ads that people hate him there They're literally getting annoyed by the ads that he's running and he's making a joke of himself because it reeks of desperation Not political savviness. So in an article by Politico's Trent Spiner He writes Maggie and Libby new Tom Steyer's ad by heart I'm going to say two words that will make Washington insiders very uncomfortable term limits They recently chirped in unison at the dinner table. Unfortunately for Steyer their votes can't be bought There are 10 and 13 it was like a comedy act the children's father Lauren Fox said his ads are on Constantly some granite staters said they're seeing Steyer's ads dozens of times a day and it's becoming more grading than in Graciating a Politico reporter who watched YouTube music videos this week by Pentatonix a popular acapella group endured 17 Steyer ads and just over an hour even some of Steyer's local staff privately acknowledged the volume of ads Has gone overboard Steyer has massively outspent other Democratic candidates on social media and an effort to gain traction in polls And ensure he makes the debate stage But the recoiling of some New Hampshire voters suggests there are limits to the strategy Michael Bloomberg Beware indeed some residents feel like they can't touch a piece of technology without seeing his face There is a point of no return in terms of visibility Said Scott Spradling a New Hampshire media analyst at some point you become the uninvited guest He uniquely is becoming dangerously close Steyer was asked directly in a recent radio interview whether he's passed the point of saturation to annoyance Quote if people actually hear my message they do respond as Steyer replied I'm someone who people don't know anything about and trying to make a very specific point and Introduce myself so I love this story because it has make it stop in the headline because that's what people in New Hampshire are saying Like can you imagine like political ads are annoying as it is and I'm in Oregon We're you know one of the later states in the primary process But political ads are annoying, but if you are in one of these early primary states how obnoxious that would be Especially especially during you know presidential campaign years that would just be insufferable I wouldn't be able to watch TV. Um, so the fact that it's actually backfiring makes me feel a little bit of You know a glimmer of hope will say that cautiously optimistic because I don't want to be too optimistic because our democracy is technically dying Because we have billionaires running But the fact that people aren't warming up to these billionaires and the fact that they're having a more difficult time than I Suspected initially buying the nomination. It does make me feel You know a little bit better about this now If you actually look at the numbers like the money he's spending it really is insane So far he spent 55 point six million dollars on advertising nationally and 6.5 million on Facebook alone in the last three months now overall he even outspent Donald Trump by $700,000 Let me restate that he outspent the incumbent president in advertising by almost a million dollars that is insane and What has this gotten him so far? Well nationally he is polling at 1.6 percent in Iowa. He's polling at 2.3 percent and in New Hampshire He's polling at 3.3 percent So not great, but he did just qualify for the December debate So he may not be able to buy the nomination so easily, but he is buying his way Onto the debate stage and this is someone who doesn't have any ideas. His big idea is term limits Okay, great. I support term limits, but that isn't the biggest issue The biggest issue is corruption in politics. It's capitalism in every sector of society health care education This is an individual who doesn't know anything because he's a billionaire He's out of touch and he can't possibly represent the American people because he doesn't know about their struggles He doesn't know what he stands for. He just wants power like if you are a billionaire and You think that the best way to help if you believe the country's in a bad state is to run for president and not fund some Sort of charity or other congressional campaigns Then it just goes to show that you care more about yourself and your ego That actually fixing the problems that America faces right if he truly cared about corruption in America if he truly was Dissatisfied with the establishment. He can use his money to create Organizations and programs that combats the establishment's influence, but he's not doing that because he cares about himself And even if he's a billionaire already like people need to realize that the power in and of itself is alluring It's why people like Donald Trump who was a billionaire Michael Bloomberg who is a billionaire They still want more power even though they have more money than they'll be able to spend in their lifetime Well, they got everything with regard to money. So now they want to seek out a different type of vice power So that's what this is about but look at the end of the day I'm really happy that this is backfiring and that Tom Steyer is flooding the market so much that he is oversaturating it and annoying the shit out of people This is good news because we don't want their message to resonate and we want them to have whatever money they're spending be wasted because It needs to be very clear in this country that billionaires cannot buy elections They're already buying elections indirectly by funding puppets by you know making these campaign Contributions to politicians in both parties, but they certainly should not be able to just buy a position of power themselves Betsy DeVos already did that by you know donating to Donald Trump and You know, it's not just Donald Trump people who donate often times get a job as ambassador This was true for Obama as well But we have to put an end to this if we truly believe in democracy Then we have to acknowledge that things like this are Antithetical to democracy billionaires should not be able to buy elections And we have to say that loudly and clearly so that way they get the message and stay the fuck out of politics