Is Jesse Ventura America’s saviour?

Over recent times, there has been a strange effort by much of the American left, among others, to get former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura (also known for his acting and wrestling credits — seriously), to run for President under the Green Party ticket. Now while he’s turned this down consistently, the hype is palpable, even leading to a mock TV ad of him going down that route.

At first glance, this could be somewhat promising. Ventura isn’t fully kosher when it comes to his political views (having fallen for the ‘medical marijuana’ propaganda line and supporting unicameral political government), but when it counts, he is quite sensible. He supported gay rights, is heavily critical of big government and rightly condemned the US embargo on Cuba, an old Cold War relic of the past that had no use once the Soviet Union was no longer a threat. So he seems like a genuine enough guy at first glance.

However, is Ventura worth the hype? The obvious answer, to anyone who’s bothered to study his record, is a clear no.

His main accomplishment in political life was to become the governor of Minnesota under the Reform Party ticket, which beyond being an unexpected win because of it being a third party win and his background in wrestling and acting, was the last hurrah for a party that once was promising but fully imploded post Pat Buchanan’s failed bid for President in 2000.

How did he perform? From research gathered, it’s clear that he was mostly average and nothing more. He wasn’t as bad as Arnold Schwarzenegger running California, but wasn’t a Ronald Reagan governor type either. His biggest accomplishments apparently were his judicial appointments and little else, all the while a legislature dominated by rival parties and the infighting from his own side (with him changing parties soon after being elected) held him back. Is that a track record worthy enough of a President? Obviously not.

Meanwhile, what else is noteworthy of Ventura of late? The main thing being a laughably cheesy TV show called Conspiracy Theory, which aired in the late 2000s, and is now so dated and laughable that it’s surprising that anyone took it seriously at the time. That is beyond the cranks in redneck country who watch Alex Jones, drink moonshine too much and are overtly paranoid about the government coming to take their guns. Any day now, after all.

The show, narrated by Tyler Derek of Most Shocking fame in an ultra corny fashion coughing up one-liners and quips as if they were going out of stock, did what it said on the tin: investigate conspiracy theories. The obvious ones were covered, like 9/11 being a possible inside job, JFK being assassinated by government spooks and even 2012 end time conspiracy theories (yes, the show IS that dated). Ventura often acts the tough talk, and references to his earlier movies like Predator, make an appearance, when he isn’t giving daft zingers that even Gary Busey would probably roll his eyes at.

That being noted, it’s obviously heavily staged. No legitimately prickly issue is discussed, as presumably Ventura wouldn’t want actual lawyers involved. So don’t expect legitimate conspiracies, like the curious death of Dr. David Kelly or Saudi involvement in 9/11, or even historical examples like the Japanese false flags that started off their invasion of China or the CIA’s meddling in international affairs. More tellingly, there is an establishment feel of the show, especially in how much of its cast, mainly that of June Sarpong, have become mainstream journos since its release. And that’s not enough ignoring the daft stuff, like alleged Bilderberg agents chasing some of Ventura’s team, despite their car’s license plate being plainly visible. Sometimes the show did hit hard, and got into trouble for it like with their FEMA camps episode, but that was fairly rare in an otherwise lamely safe show. It’s fun cheese, but little else.

Bottom line, Ventura is good at pretending. He’s a good actor, a presumably good wrestler, and managed to get himself a nice governor role from that. But he isn’t the guy to count on when the pedal hits the metal. When Americans, through the rise of populist right with Donald Trump and the rise of the populist left with Bernie Sanders, clearly want more authentic politics and politicians, Ventura isn’t the guy to turn to.

Pass.