Max Keiser, a gonzo financial commentator for RT, is known for combining the high-flying drama he learned at NYU acting school with knowledge of trading, currency, and markets he began earning as stock broker on Wall Street in the 1980s.

He has gained a reputation amongst proponents of Austrian economic theory and libertarianism as a delightfully madcap voice in the fight against what he calls the “Casino Gulag” of “global bankster occupation,” hyperbolically suggesting to “hang the bankers” in many episodes of his RT show The Keiser Report, co-hosted by his wife, Stacy Herbert.

Combining screaming anti-establishment rants with pointed financial analysis, and featuring guests like Peter Schiff, Gerald Celente, and Reggie Middleton, his show takes libertarian-leaning analysis and combines it with over-the-top presentation that makes TV analyst Jim Kramer’s Mad Money look like an introvert’s tea party. Unlike scores of celebrities (and others) who vowed to leave the US if Trump won the election, Keiser vowed to return if Trump won, after years living overseas in self-imposed exile. Kesier made good on his promise, returning to the US and announcing that he’s considering an entirely new venture: a 2018 run for a congressional seat in North Carolina’s 6th district.

In the new era of Trumpist populism, a congressional victory for straight-talking, irreverent, establishment-bashing Keiser seems appallingly possible. And given his flair for theater and brutal, off-the-cuff honesty, would probably turn out to be just as unique a campaign as that of our new president.

Keiser has promised an official announcement in March, and given the protection consistently extended to criminal banking establishments and the individuals managing them, would be a welcome addition to the candidate pool. An advocate for gold and silver as financial weapons against criminal megabanks, abolishing fiat currencies, reducing centralization in financial systems, and holding bankers accountable would be a positive force in a world dependent on brazenly criminal institutions for economic management. While I don’t agree personally with capital punishment, I suspect (perhaps wrongly) that Keiser’s call to hang bankers is theatric hyperbole, though even if it isn’t, our justice system would hopefully allow no such thing without a fair trial.

Either way, I think Keiser in Congress would be a brilliant rebuke to an inherently corrupt, cronyist system, and represent a sea change in populist politics for which Trumpism only represents the beginning. We’ll find out in March, from his promised official announcement, if he plans on going all the way.

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