Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown posted a two-minute video on a campaign social media account last week and it is all about … not Sam Brown.
Nor is it about his Senate campaign.
The whole two minutes is Brown singing the praises of cryptocurrency, as if he was working a Home Shopping Network time slot targeting tech bro fanboys.
“Can you imagine a scenario,” Brown asks…
“…where you’d ever want to send money maybe to another country? To family? To friends? Maybe it’s, uh, someone you’re buying something from. And you’re concerned about whether that money’s going to get there on time. Or, if it’s going to get there securely without anyone else interfering.”
Yes, I can imagine such a scenario. If my profession was not editor/newsletter writer/columnist but rather criminal trafficker of drugs, arms, and/or humans, crypto would probably be looking pretty good.
I guess another scenario would be if I had foolishly/greedily fallen for some con and the only payment the confolk would accept was crypto.
Oh and of course if I was an illegal bookie operating out of a casino on the Las Vegas Strip and I needed to launder money, well, that’s a proven and popular “use case” for crypto.
Brown loves crypto (even more than he loves Elko) because of course he does. Besides Trump loves crypto too. And so does J.D. Vance (a Silicon Valley by-product). And Brown loves them.
And they love Brown? Maybe.
Brown’s crypto video was one of a couple excerpts the campaign published from a longer video Brown posted on social media of the candidate answering questions solicited from supporters.
While he criticized incumbent Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen in spots during the longer video, he only mentioned his opponent in passing during the crypto part. But that reference had nothing to do with cryptocurrency. Which makes sense, because the crypto industry is already very pleased with Rosen’s pro-crypto positions, thank you.
(Brown’s reference to Rosen instead was merely in the form of boilerplate Republican whining about Biden and the Democrats passing legislation to increase the IRS budget so it can go after corporate tax cheats and save us all lots of money, which Brown is against.)
There is no evidence that cryptocurrency is a pressing kitchen table issue in the households of average working Nevadans. On the contrary, there is evidence indicating that 15 years after its creation, people generally associate cryptocurrency with scams, and are sick of hearing about it.
But the industry is buying congressional support left and right – or more specifically, Democratic and Republican – and throwing millions and millions around on campaign contributions. As of the most recent campaign finance reports, the industry hadn’t spent heavily either for or against Brown or Rosen in the way it has in other races, most notably Ohio. Maybe Brown hopes – or knows – that will change.
Whatever the outcome of this year’s elections, the crypto industry is entrenching itself, or rather its money, in the halls of Congress, and not just amassing political action committee warchests but also spending on lobbying and public relations and marketing.
So who knows? If the whole running for public office thing doesn’t pan out for Brown, maybe he can find a job building relationships with government officials on behalf of some crypto rising/shooting star.
Meanwhile, in his video, Brown, himself a budding author, has a mini-stack of books at his side. On top is “Some New Beginnings” by Selina Meyer.
Yes, that Selina Meyer, the imaginary vice president portrayed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus in “Veep.”
And yes, Brown is talking about the magical wonders of cryptocurrency while posing with a mock-up of a make-believe book that was a plot point in a sitcom.
Maybe it’s a clever nod to some inside-Bitcoin meme viewed as hilarious within the cryptobro subculture.
Be that as it may, it’s also a nominee for U.S. Senate posing with a make-believe book while pitching what myriad critics call a Ponzi scheme, which is fitting… of Brown, of crypto, of this whole hellscape that passes for 21st century political discourse.
A versions of this column was originally published in the Daily Current newsletter, which is free and which you can subscribe to here.