Two Rivers man joins fake presidential field

First, there was Deez Nuts for President, the brainchild of Brady Olson, a 15-year-old Iowa farm boy who is using the pseudonym to mount a third-party campaign for the White House. (There are a few roadblocks to his grand plan but more on that later.)

In the past few days, a flurry of other "candidates" have joined in, filing their official "statements of candidacy" with the Federal Election Commission. They include Sir Trippy Cup aka Young Trippz aka The Goat aka The Prophet aka Earl, who is running as a Federalist from Two Rivers. His FEC Statement of Candidacy form lists the "Committe to Elect TrippyCup for Presendent" Sir Trippy Cup's principal campaign committee, as well as a phone number and street address.

Sir Trippy Cup, otherwise known as 18-year-old Two Rivers resident Erik Battin, says he knows he can’t win the election, but hopes to provide some light-heartedness.

“I agreed with (Deez Nuts’) thinking that the presidential race has become a joke,” Battin said. “I wanted to get a few laughs, but if you dig deeper, there’s something more to take from it.”

Other candidates include Mr. Not Sure, a Socialist from Wheeling, W.V.; and Butt Stuff, who appears to be linked to a fairly sophisticated e-commerce site, selling T-shirts and bumper stickers.

Using the Federal Election Commission to get attention or satirize the political system is nothing new. Comedian Stephen Colbert inspired a wave of fake super PACs, and we also documented the surge of presidential longshots in the 2012 contest.

It's very easy to claim you are seeking the presidency. Just fill out a form that says you are. Then, things get a bit more complicated, which leads us back to candidates such as Deez Nuts, who has fast gained fame on social media.

The high school student urged Public Policy Polling to include Deez Nuts in its surveys, and it did, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Deez Nuts went on to draw 9 percent in North Carolina in a three-way match up with Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, leading to a flurry of media attention. He also has a fairly extensive platform on his website, including supporting voting rights for residents of U.S. territories and backing the nuclear deal with Iran.

Unfortunately for Brady, however, the U.S. Constitution has this pesky requirement that presidents must be at least 35.

USA TODAY reporter Donovan Slack contributed to this report and Manitowoc HTR reporter Abbey Schubert contributed to this report.