Politico co-founder Jim VandeHei became a punchline in media circles this week after he authored an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal calling for a technically savvy, social media loving third-party presidential candidate to come forward and exploit voters’ deepest fears and desires.
“[VandeHei] is a world-historical bonehead,” said the Week’s Ryan Cooper.
The Guardian’s Trevor Timm said simply that the column was “god-awful.”
“Jim VandeHei appears to not understand how politics works in the United States,” said vox.com’s Dylan Matthews, who penned an article dissecting the many glaring questions presented by the ex-Politico chief’s musings.
The Huffington Post’s Jason Linkins was blunt in his assessment, and published a takedown labeling the ideas presented by the Wall Street Journal op-ed as “dumb and bad.”
“Jim VandeHei is one of those people who, when he publishes his thoughts, causes the world to convulse in an audible groan,” he wrote.
“There is a German word, fremdschaemen, that means ‘the feeling of being ashamed on someone else’s behalf.’ Jim VandeHei fills me with fremdschaemen. I’m embarrassed for him, I pity him and I sincerely hope he finds some billionaire to give him money — so long as that money is given to him with one string attached: He can never write again,” he added.
VandeHei, who recently left Politico, wrote in his corporate-speak-heavy piece that, “Normal America is right that Establishment America has grown fat, lazy, conventional and deserving of radical disruption.”
“And the best, perhaps only way to disrupt the establishment is by stealing a lot of Donald Trump’s and [Sen. Bernie Sanders’s, I-Vt.] tricks and electing a third-party candidate,” he added.
VandeHei went on to explain that only a true outsider, such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, can upend business as usual in the nation’s capital.
If he’s right, however, the idea will have to wait. Zuckerberg is 31-years-old, and a presidential candidate must be at least 35 years of age on the day of his inauguration.
“[I]f someone turned the critique, passion and disdain shared by the [Trump and Sanders] movements into a new one, they could change the system in meaningful ways,” VandeHei. “Only an outside force can knock Washington out of its governing rut — and the presidency is the only place with the power to do it.”
He explained that the ideal third-party candidate must be good at social media, he must be really into modern warfare and he must be willing to build on President Obama’s policy of “death by drones.”
VandeHei’s op-ed did not receive a warm reception in media circles, and it became the target of much mockery hours after its publication.
“Anyone who believes we are a meritocracy should read Jim VandeHei, who somehow rose to the top of journalism world,” said ThinkProgress’ Ian Millhiser.
BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins joked, “I like to think VandeHei is sitting at home quietly making a never-hire list of all the reporters who are making fun of his op-ed on twitter.”
