Is Mark Zuckerberg Preparing To Run For President?

Will he? Will he not? The speculation surrounding Facebook founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg’s presidential bid in 2020 (or 2024) is growing louder and shriller every passing month in the United States media. Zuck, as he is known among his friends and colleagues, is only 33 and not yet eligible for ‘the leader of the free world’ tag but he will be in 2020 if he decides to take the plunge.

The factors causing the flutter in the media over Zuckerberg’s potential run are too obvious to miss. Observing his 2017 calendar, one might mistake it for that of a man vying to become commander-in-chief than that of a tech CEO. This year, Zuckerberg has visited 23 US states so far, nearing his resolution of visiting all 50 states by the end of the year. He had already been to 20 states before 2017. Though he has denied multiple times that he is running for public office, Zuck’s actions speak louder.

Unlike typical politicians who visit only states like Iowa, New Hampshire and North Carolina or electorally important ones like Ohio or Michigan, Zuckerberg is visiting blue as well as red states and small as well as big ones. However, it’s not the places he visits that raised the eyebrows, but his activities there, which are so typical of politicians: riding a tractor in the fields of Wisconsin, attending Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina, sitting down with people recovering from opioid addiction in Ohio, donning a fluorescent jacket during a trip to the Ford factory in Michigan, stopping by at small towns in Iowa, meeting military leaders at Naval War College in Rhode Island, chatting with mill workers, teachers, small business owners in Maine, joining a gay pride festival in Nebraska, meeting pastors in Texas, visiting oil drill workers in Louisiana, a civil war site in Mississippi, the largest military base in the world in North Carolina and so on.

Zuck’s friends say he wants to be an emperor and has been carefully cultivating a specific type of persona over the past few years. Though they think he is more likely to run in 2024 when he is 40 years old and not challenge Donald Trump in 2020. He is not registered either as a Democrat or a Republican but will most likely run as the former.

Delivering the keynote speech at Facebook F8 Developer Conference, Zuckerberg took a snipe at President Trump. He said:

Zuckerberg has regularly expressed his concern about overheating of the planet and climate change. During his Harvard commencement address, he talked about the need for affordable childcare and a future with lesser number of jobs. “We will have to deal with tens of millions of jobs replaced by automation like self-driving cars and trucks,” he said, fully aware of the audience he was speaking to. A group spearheaded by Zuckerberg pumped millions of dollars in lobbying for a senate bill that would have paved a quicker path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Earlier an atheist, Zuck now believes that ‘god is very important’. The renewed stance probably stems more from the fact that no openly atheist has ever been elected President rather than real change of heart.

And like everyone else who prepares to run for office but doesn’t want to tell anyone, Zuckerberg denied that he is looking for a taxpayer-funded house. “Some of you have asked if this challenge means I’m running for public office. I’m not. I’m doing it to get a broader perspective to make sure we’re best serving our community of almost 2 billion people at Facebook and doing the best work to promote equal opportunity at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative,” he wrote in a post.

But the facts speak otherwise. Earlier this year, Zuckerberg and his wife hired former president Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign manager, David Plouffe, as in-charge of policy and advocacy at their Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), a philanthropic foundation launched by the husband-wife duo in 2015. Zuckerbergs who are worth over $70 billion wish to give away 99 per cent of their wealth during their lifetime to charity. Apart from Plouffe, CZI also took on board George W Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign manager Ken Mehlman who also headed Republican National Committee from 2005 to 2007. Top Democrat pollster and Hillary Clinton’s former chief strategist, Obama’s assistant press secretary and Vice-President Joe Biden’s press secretary have also joined Zuck’s charity organisation which is increasingly looking like a front for his political operations.

More importantly, in the updated proxy statement of the company, Facebook Inc, the clause regarding voluntary resignation has been amended which now reads:

Voluntary Resignation” shall mean any voluntary resignation of the Founder as an Approved Executive Officer, other than any Pre-Approved Leave. “Pre-Approved Leave” shall mean any leave of absence or resignation of the Founder that is in connection with the Founder serving in a government position or office. (emphasis ours)

If not anything, it is certain from the amended filing above that Zuckerberg is thinking of running for public office someday in the future.

Zuckerberg insists he is on a national listening tour, trying to understand the real America and talk to common Americans, “to learn about people's hopes and challenges, and how they're thinking about their work and communities.” Maybe. Maybe not.

There is another theory. Zuck is just venturing outside his silicon valley bubble and trying to understand the real impact of a platform like Facebook in not just building networks and staying connected but influencing big events including the latest election of Donald Trump which he believes Facebook facilitated but he himself didn’t foresee.

It’s possible. Or maybe, just maybe, he wants to understand the role his product had in getting Trump elected and leverage that to get himself elected too.