Screenshot via YouTube
Good news for those prediction-addled political forecasters. An upcoming presidential race has its first announced candidate. Not in 2016, but in the 2020 presidential election.
That’s when the gun rights activist Adam Kokesh says he plans to run for the highest office in the land, with the singular campaign platform of shutting down the federal government. Kokesh told Fox 5 as much in a interview yesterday from the Fairfax County jailhouse where he has resided since his July 9 arrest at his home in Herndon, Va.
Kokesh, a former Marine who served in the Iraq War, was arrested a few days after posting a July 4 video on YouTube in which he can be seen loading shells into a shotgun while standing on Freedom Plaza, a small park in downtown D.C. The stunt was apparently the culmination of his scuttled plans to lead a group of like-minded demonstrators into the District while carrying loaded rifles on Independence Day. The District has some of the nation’s strictest gun laws, including tight prohibitions on carrying firearms outside the owner’s home or place of business.
U.S. Park Police served a warrant a few days later, and on the evening of July 9, Kokesh’s home was searched. Police found a parcel of hallucinogenic mushrooms and also found a gun in the house. Kokesh was arrested by Herndon police and charged with possession of a schedule I or II substance, which in Virginia can carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $2,500. Having a gun while in possession of those drugs can bring an additional two years behind bars. Kokesh has not been charged in connection with the video in the District of Columbia, where carrying a loaded firearm can bring a five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
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In the Fox 5 interview, Kokesh says the mushrooms were not his. When reporter John Henrahan asks where they came from, Kokesh nods to the evidence bags police brought in when they entered his house and claims the mushrooms were planted. After initially refusing to answer any questions in court, Kokesh was granted $5,000 bond earlier this week, but he remains in Fairfax County lockup while his supporters try to raise money for bail.
As for his political ambitions, Kokesh, 31, is too young to be eligible for the 2016 election, but he’ll be 37 in 2020. And he’s confident about his single-issue platform. Henrahan asks why the dissolution of the federal government is a good idea. To that, Kokesh says, “Why is having a federal government a good idea at this point?”
Kokesh is due back in Fairfax County General District Court on Oct. 2 for a preliminary hearing.
