OXON HILL, Md. – Perry Johnson is having a blast running for president.
And why didn’t he? In less than a year, the Michigan businessman has gone from a disqualified gubernatorial candidate to a long-shot presidential candidate with a solo speaking slot at the Conservative Political Action Conference alongside Republican Party stars including Sen. Ted Cruz and Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“I think we should fire Biden!” Johnson said, gesturing animatedly to the half-empty room of the conference’s main stage at Oxon Hill. “They’re spending too much money, and that’s what’s driving our inflation.” Here’s the gist of Johnson: If elected president, he would try to cut government spending by 2% a year.
It’s not exactly a witness message to a crowd obsessed with transgender athletes and driving “wakeness” from schools, but people at least applauded for Johnson when he talked about the pink Biden. He outlines his more specific plans in “Two Cents,” a free book that can be ordered on Johnson’s website.
“I’m laser-focused on stopping inflation and getting this country where it needs to be. This is the greatest county on earth,” Perry told the CPAC audience.
Perry Johnson has almost no chance of becoming the next president of the United States. But he is proof, like Democrat Mike Bloomberg in 2020 and Reform Party founder Ross Perot in 1992, that if you have enough money to campaign, you’ll have fun trying.
Johnson is rarely mentioned as a 2024 presidential candidate announced alongside Donald Trump, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and “anti-woke” author Vivek Ramaswamy, although he is spending his own money like a serious candidate. Johnson’s advisers point to the fact that he is the only Republican president expected to make six-figure TV ads in Iowa (including one that has … a creative rendering of Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to illustrate criticism of out-of-control government spending . ). And they seem to believe that Johnson has a path to victory in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
“History is full of upsets,” said Johnson adviser John Yob, the Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s come-from-behind 2012 Iowa caucuses win. (Santorum dropped out of the race two months later and would have been a U.S. senator before becoming president.)
Asked how far he was ready to go in this race, Johnson, who at 75 had luminescent white teeth and a head full of shiny copper-colored hair, looked confused. “I will win,” he said.
Johnson is the only 2024 hopeful to rent a booth in the CPAC exhibit hall, where volunteers hand out “Perry who?” merch campaign, a nod to the fact that most of the people here do not know Johnson or care that he is running for president. “Who’s Perry?” this is also emblazoned across the luxury motorcycle coach that Johnson’s team has parked outside the convention hall on Friday morning. Never mind that few actual candidates showed up at CPAC this year — none, as of Friday, came by bus.
After his turn on the convention floor, Johnson held a packed meet-and-greet where the candidate was perhaps less balanced than free booze and passed hors d’oeuvres. At least someone walked in, grabbed a drink and some samosas, and left before Johnson spoke.
“I think we should fire Biden! He’s spending too much money, and that’s what’s causing all of our inflation.”
– Perry Johnson at CPAC
Most of Johnson’s happy guests were CPAC attendees from Michigan, where Johnson founded Perry Johnson Registrars Inc., a company that helps companies meet international quality assurance standards. The website featured a soft-focus photo of Johnson with blonde hair.
“I have 70 companies, and I’m living the American dream,” Johnson said, describing how he would eat “sub sandwiches” as a graduate student with loans. “I believe I will get it,” he said. Johnson said he later worked in quality control in Detroit’s auto industry before launching his own company.
Perry brought former Detroit Police Chief James Craig and former Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.). Craig called Johnson a “good guy” and praised him as an empathetic leader.
“This is the first choice,” said Daralyn Armbruster, a retiree who lives near Johnson in Michigan, pointing to a “Make America great again” pin. “But I want to hear what he has to say.” Even though Trump’s presidency has been rocky, “he can still do a lot,” Armbruster said, echoing many CPAC attendees, at an event that seems more free of Trump’s influence this year. “We have a good economy. We are not in a conflict or we are trying to get out of a conflict. Besides, he said, “I like them.”
“We’ll see what happens,” said John Nichols, 56, who praised Johnson’s “common sense” approach and who will not vote for Trump. “I’m a conservative. I like what Trump is doing. I don’t like Trump as a person. I think [Johnson] maybe better and friendlier.”
Johnson was fond of reflecting on his bid for the presidency and the possibilities it presented. “No one knows who’s going to win the presidency,” Johnson told HuffPost over the music blasting at the rallies. “I believe that in 2016 Jeb Bush will win [the GOP presidential primary]. He has 104 million in campaign funds. He has all the political people behind him,” he said, adding: “No one has ever heard of Obama!
His immediate goal is to qualify for the main debate stage with Trump – a likely outcome that pleases him. Not because he has anything against Trump. Perry Johnson’s campaign for president is not about anyone but Perry Johnson.
“It was the happiest time of my life. I can’t think of anything else I want to do.”