A good thing to have when running for president is name recognition. One could argue that the startling, unprecedented rise of Donald Trump stems in large part from his role as the lead on one of America’s most popular reality shows ever.
A good thing to have when working for a classified intelligence agency is, James Bond aside, no name recognition whatsoever. The success of our spies relies in large part on no one knowing who they are and what they do.
We are about to find out how those two things could possibly be reconciled, as a former CIA agent is running for president.
Evan McMullin spent ten years with the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, from 2001 to 2011, deployed to some of the world’s most prominent hot spots. Since leaving the agency, he’s been a Republican strategist, working most recently as the chief policy director of the House Republican Conference.
Now, an anti-Trump group has drafted him to run for president. He gave an exclusive statement to ABC News:
“In a year where Americans have lost faith in the candidates of both major parties, it’s time for a generation of new leadership to step up. It’s never too late to do the right thing, and America deserves much better than either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton can offer us. I humbly offer myself as a leader who can give millions of disaffected Americans a conservative choice for President.”
His candidacy is being spearheaded by Better for America, a non-profit group which has been working behind the scenes to find a person to provide a palatable, conservative counter to the Republican party nominee.
The group says prominent Republicans will back McMullin, who has some well-known GOP operatives working behind the effort, including Republican consultant Rick Wilson and Florida-based pollster and operative Joel Searby. Better for America has been funded in part by John Kingston, a Boston-based conservative donor who bundled for Mitt Romney.
According to BuzzFeed, he is expected to file paperwork to run today.
Here he is, drinking what appears to be an Orangina.
Sure. Why not?