Tiger King star Joe Exotic might be in prison, but why should that stop him from running for president Is murder-for-hire a crime Actually, yes, hence the prison stuff, but that’s beside the point. Exotic (real name: Joseph Maldonado-Passage) is an American, dammit, and as an American, it’s his right to launch a presidential campaign that will go absolutely nowhere. It won’t even be close.
According to his official campaign page, Exotic wants everyone to know that his campaign is “not a joke” despite seeming very much like one, and yes, he’s aware that he’s in federal prison. “It is my Constitutional right to do this even from here,” Exotic will have you know.
Exotic also made it a point to mention Carole Baskin, the woman he tried to have murdered, which right off the bat does not seem like the best campaign tactic. Maybe don’t invoke the name of your potential victim Just something to think about for the debates. Via Mediaite:
“So put aside that I am gay, that I am in prison for now, that I used drugs in the past, that I had more than one boyfriend at once and that Carole hates my guts. This all has not a thing to do with me being able to be your voice. The best thing you have going for supporting me is that I am used to fighting my whole life just to get by. I am broke, they have taken everything I ever worked for away, and it’s time we take this country back.”
Of course, there may be another motive for Exotic’s campaign. The Tiger King subject was famously denied a pardon by Donald Trump, so this could be his way of getting revenge. Somehow. Look, we never said it was a good plan.