Since Trump ascended to power, there have been many who have been disgruntled with his leadership. However, recently, the most recent anti-Trump call caught the world by surprise. This time, it comes from Robert Escobar, the brother to the infamous Colombian drug lord, Pablo Escobar.
Escobar has turned to cryptocurrencies for his mission, and not for the first time. Escobar has launched his own crypto, a dollar-pegged stablecoin aptly named ESCOBAR. Initially, the campaign against Trump had set up a GoFundMe page aiming to collect $50 million. The page was allegedly pulled down by the crowdfunding site, leading the campaign to turn to cryptos.
How successful the campaign will be is still up for debate. However, it’s once again a great indicator of the one quality that crypto has over traditional systems: it can’t be censored.
Impeaching Trump
President Trump is one of the most polarizing leaders in modern times. Those who love him believe that he has America’s best interest at heart. Those on the opposite side are just as adamant to force him out, with calls for impeachment being the order of the day.
The Escobar estate has made its stand known, and it firmly believes Trump isn’t the best leader for America. On the ‘Impeach Trump Fund’ website, the campaign has Trump’s photo, with bold mocking statements indicating that Trump believes Escobar is the only one who can impeach him. The standout text reads:
I have done so many things wrong both before, during (and probably after) my presidency, that I deserve to be impeached and removed from ruling the U.S.A.
The campaign alleges that the Trump administration was behind the pulling down of the crowdfunding page. Speaking to The Next Web, Elof Gustafsson revealed that the campaign had already raised $10 million before GoFundMe pulled it down.
Gustafsson, the CEO of Escobar Inc. stated:
Originally the goal was to raise $50 million just using the GoFundMe platform. After raising $10 million in just 10 hours we were shut down by GoFundMe and within 24 hours launched the ESCOBAR stablecoin cryptocurrency to avoid anyone censoring us again. We believe the Trump Administration or President Trump shut us down.
The team even shared a screenshot to confirm the funds.
Two Birds, One Stone
The anti-Trump campaign by Escobar chose to develop its own stablecoin as it doesn’t trust Tether. Daniel Reitberg, the COO of Escobar Inc. explained:
Yes, we had plans to release this cryptocurrency in 2019 as a stablecoin alternative to the USD Tether. We do not trust the USDT. We think that people should use our coin, as we have a much larger business sense than most other companies out there and Roberto Escobar has made hundreds of billions of dollars throughout his career.
The campaign is holding its ICO which is set to run till May 10. The target is selling 200 million tokens, with each token being reportedly pegged to the U.S dollar.
And it will be a case of the proverbial two birds with one stone, the team at Escobar Inc. revealed. The campaign will use some of the proceeds to hire lawyers and lobbyists to push forward the ‘Impeach Trump’ campaign. The lobbyists will be paid in ESCOBAR tokens, which they can only redeem for fiat currency after June.
The other part of the proceeds will fund the development of the ESCOBAR crypto. The aim is to replace Tether and ultimately become the king of stablecoins. Is this just a publicity stunt and a mere pipe dream? Only time will tell.