Many presidents become authors after their presidencies, writing their memoirs. Beto O’Rourke, who is running for president in 2020, is already an author.
First, the back story as told by Reuters:
While a teenager, O’Rourke … belonged to the oldest group of computer hackers in U.S. history.
The hugely influential Cult of the Dead Cow, jokingly named after an abandoned Texas slaughterhouse, is notorious for releasing tools that allowed ordinary people to hack computers running Microsoft’s Windows. It’s also known for inventing the word “hacktivism” to describe human-rights-driven security work.
Members of the group have protected O’Rourke’s secret for decades, reluctant to compromise his political viability. Now, in a series of interviews, CDC members have acknowledged O’Rourke as one of their own. …
It was as a member of this group that O’Rourke, using the pen name Psychedelic Warlord, wrote a short story titled “Visions From The Last Crusade.” The story, which is a mere 435 words, is worth reading in its entirety, but here are a couple of choice representative excerpts:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
My one and only goal in life became the termination of everything that was free and loving. …
This feeling pervaded everything in my life, yet the first few months after realizing my goal, I had done nothing. Then one day, as I was driving home from work, I noticed two children crossing the street. They were happy, happy to be free from their troubles. I knew, however, that this happiness and sense of freedom were much too overwhelming for them. This happiness was mine by right. I had earned it in my dreams. As I neared the young ones, I put all my weight on my right foot, keeping the accelerator pedal on the floor until I heard the crashing of the two children on the hood, and then the sharp cry of pain from one of the two. I was so fascinated for a moment, that when after I had stopped my vehicle, I just sat in a daze, sweet visions filling my head. …
The more people I killed, the longer my dreams were. I soon quit my job, and stayed at my house in an almost comatose state.
At the end of the story, O’Rourke fixed this note: “(c)opy-write [sic] 1988 cDc communications by Psychedelic Warlord 8/28/88-73 All Rights, Of Course, Are Shit In Their Worth.”
Now he wants to be your president.
