Butch Ware: The Art of Leftist Grift
The Green Party candidate attacks fellow socialists en route to a landslide loss.
Much like “neoliberal” or “communist,” “grifter” has been so overused in political discourse that it risks losing its meaning. Though it’s commonly used as a derogatory catch-all for “someone I don’t like,” a grifter is really a specific type of political showmans that seeks to capture genuine energy and harness it for personal advancement and enrichment. The best example of a grifter is Alex Jones, who used right-wing conspiracy theories to sell InfoWars supplements to guys who think woke is why they can only see their kids with court supervision.
Given that conservatism is a hierarchical ideology, grifting comes naturally to the right. Donald Trump can easily sell branded Bibles to Republicans with the same pitch he uses to win their votes. “I have the best brain for thinking, and I’m the holiest man ever” works just as well as a stump speech as it does an infomercial. The capitalist dogma and everyone-for-themselves worldview make it impossible for conservatives not to grift, even in dire times. Just days after Charlie Kirk was violently murdered, leaked audio shows Erika Kirk was ecstatic about merch sales at her husband's memorial service, which she referred to as “the event of the century.” The father of her children was executed in public, and Erika Kirk left her children at home to sell T-Shirts with his face on them. Grifting is in the conservative DNA, right next to their love of apple pie and their hatred of the Civil Rights Act.
While grifting is par for the course for Republicans, it’s rare on the left. Most people who seek money and fame pursue careers that tend to deliver, well, money and fame. The systemic nature of political ideologies makes the right (and the centrist establishment) attractive to ladder-climbers, while the horizontal, mass-movement design of left-wing politics makes it a poor fit for aspiring glory-hunters. While the conservative worldview requires dominant, masculine figures (Donald Trump) and the centrist strategy seeks political celebrity (Barack Obama), socialist politics emphasizes the common good over the individual. It’s difficult for one to harness the enthusiasm for the collective good and channel it into personal elevation.
But ss Green Party California gubernatorial candidate Butch Ware is showing us, just because it’s difficult to grift on the left doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
Failure To Launch
I first heard about Butch Ware back in 2024, when he became the Green Party’s 2024 Vice Presidential candidate. Almost immediately, it became clear that he wasn’t interested in serious political activity. Five days before the election, Butch Ware appeared for an interview on “The Black Channel” and said he supported banning trans girls from sports and a 16-week abortion ban. For context, Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign published a report calling for a 16-week ban, but later walked it back because it was too conservative. So, the ostensible left-wing presidential ticket had a candidate who was more conservative on abortion than the president who facilitated the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. Ware gave some pretty whacky reasons for his abortion skepticism, at one point saying Black communities “should be protected against the weaponization of reproductive care that is designed to sterilize us.” I’m no expert on the Black community, but I’m unaware of any point in American history when abortion has been “weaponized.” Historically, powerful interests have always sought to strip women of reproductive rights, not make them easily accessible. Of course, the group most harmed by this is Black women. When abortion access is restricted, maternal deaths increase by 24% on average, but by 39% for Black women. Take from that what you will. (You can watch Ware’s abortion answer at 48:30 below.)
I strongly disagree with Butch Ware’s abortion and trans stance, but disagreeing with me doesn’t make him a grifter. I don’t think third-party bids are an effective strategy for left-wing politics. But some leftists do, and they run genuine third-party campaigns. At least they take their bids seriously. While the social conservatism was surprising, the real red flag I took from Butch Ware’s 2024 campaign was the revelation that he and Jill Stein, who were running for President and Vice President of the United States, had never even discussed abortion policy, which was one of the most important issues of the 2024 election. As the host pointed out, they had two completely different answers, just days before the election!
The whole episode led me to believe Butch Ware never intended to be any sort of political leader. Rather, he was using the campaign to get invited on podcasts and launch himself as the Green Party heir apparent to Jill Stein. Honestly, once the Stein-Ware ticket fell short of its goal of winning 5% of the popular vote to trigger federal funds (they got .5%), I thought I’d heard the last of Dr. Butch Ware. So, I stored the Green Party abortion snafu in the “Weird politics stuff - FORGET” box of my mind’s attic, right next to the obscure fact that Ronald Reagan is the only U.S. president to lead a union. (I’ll pull them out at trivia night twenty years from now.) However, when Butch Ware announced his campaign for California governor, it was difficult not to see the similarities between his past behavior and his current shenanigans. Which are honestly, so much worse.
California Scheming
The first sign that Butch Ware’s California gubernatorial campaign was more of the same arose when the campaign manager, Jason Call, was accused of sexual assault late last year. What made the episode even weirder is that Call was accused of assaulting the woman he lived with… in Spain. This raises the obvious question: Why did Butch Ware’s campaign manager move to Spain during the election?
On January 1st, the Ware campaign released a statement calling Jason Call the “former campaign manager” and said it was conducting an investigation. A week later, the campaign updated the statement to say that Call had quietly resigned as campaign manager on November 10th to “pursue a career opportunity in Spain,” but he remained a campaign employee until January 1st. First, I have a hard time buying this timeline. With lines such as, “The campaign is under no legal, professional, or ethical obligation to intervene in a conflict between its staff and private individuals,” it’s clear the statement was written purely to avoid a lawsuit, not reassure supporters that Butch Ware took this accusation seriously. To my ear, claiming Call resigned as CM before the alleged assault but was still a campaign employee after it sounds like a nifty way to downplay the campaign’s responsibility for the alleged assault while explaining why Call was still being paid. This whole thing got weirder when Jason Call messaged me on Twitter/X to say he was working with Kshama Sawant's Washington congressional campaign. For a guy “pursuing career opportunities in Spain,” Jason Call seems to be working on a lot of West Coast political campaigns.
Second, this whole episode raises the question of why Butch Ware doesn’t feel the need to have a campaign manager. There are only two explanations for this bizzare episode. Either Jason Call was Butch Ware’s campaign manager through 2025 and moved to Spain during the campaign, which would mean no one in the Ware camp is taking this project seriously. Or Jason Call actually resigned on November 10th, and Butch Ware didn’t see any need to replace him. The Ware campaign statement claims they didn’t announce Call’s November resignation because they were waiting to “recruit a full-time replacement for the CM position.” If that’s true, then the campaign has been without a manager for five months. No new campaign manager has been announced, and the Butch Ware campaign hasn’t responded to my multiple requests for information about who is managing it.
No matter which version you believe, the Jason Call episode shows that Butch Ware has no intention of using the campaign to build progressive momentum. It’s clear the Ware camp doesn’t want to win, but winning isn’t the only reason to run for office. Many high-profile long-shot bids have been used to bolster support outside of traditional electoral channels for future political activity. (Bernie Sanders' two presidential bids are perfect examples.) But even if non-electoral activism was Butch Ware’s goal, he’d still need a campaign manager to oversee fundraising, volunteer outreach, voter mobilization, and everything else to maximize the reach of your message. Currently, there’s no one doing that, and it doesn’t seem to matter. Instead of running an actual campaign, Butch Ware seems to be using the governor’s race to get invited on podcasts and talk about how great he is — while insulting everyone else.
Posting & Wrecking
Obviously, the lack of a campaign manager shows that the Butch Ware campaign has no interest in serving as an effective vehicle for left-wing politics. And while Ware is not responsible for Call’s alleged actions, it’s not cool for the only campaign mention of the serious allegation to be a lawsuit-avoiding memo. At a minimum, Butch Ware should at least address it, but he has not.
Taken with the clownery of his 2024 goal line fumble, I think it’s obvious Butch Ware is more interested in how socialism can benefit him than how he can help socialism benefit working people. And if he were just another opportunist, riding the popular wave, I likely wouldn’t care. Sure, it’s sucky. But opportunists can be found anywhere, and leftists have a pretty good track record of sniffing them out. But where Butch Ware crosses a line is by trying to defame other left-wing parties and organizations, all of which are more serious and successful than he is, to make himself look like the second coming of Malcolm X.
In late March, the Ware campaign published the video below on social media. In what I’m sure was his idea, Butch Ware sips tea while “spilling the tea” on why there are two Black socialists running for California governor: himself, and the other being Ramsey Robinson, a member of the Party of Socialism & Liberation running as the Peace & Freedom Party’s gubernatorial candidate. For some reason, Butch Ware decides to attack PSL, P&F, and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), all while claiming to be advocating for “left unity.” The fucking ego on this man. Without a shred of proof, Ware accuses all three parties of acting against him. First, he accuses Peace & Freedom Party chair Kevin Atkins of agreeing to make him the Left Unity Slate’s gubernatorial candidate, then going back on his word and running Ramsey Robinson. Ware calls this a “shocking breach of integrity” from Peace & Freedom and PSL. Then Ware says DSA conspired to sabotage a joint endorsement between him and Lieutenant Governor Oliver Ma.
As if this weren’t bad enough, Butch Ware decides to take even more shots at his fellow socialists in the caption, writing:
“Here’s the truth: losing PSL and Peace & Freedom doesn’t hurt us electorally. They’re polling under 0.5%. PSL gets motion on TikTok, but TikTok isn’t where elections are won. We’re at 5%. We’re within single digits of the lead.”
My god. I don’t think there’s a word to describe this level of narcissism. Butch Ware accuses PSL of focusing only on TikTok in a gossip video he posted on TikTok. I’ve seen rocks with more self-awareness. Saying “TikTok isn’t where elections are won” is so rich. How many elections have you won, Butch? You fell flat on your face in 2024 and didn’t even get 1%. This one doesn’t look to be going any better. Despite what Ware claims, he’s not polling at 5%. Not even half that. Butch Ware is so far below the other candidates that most polls don’t bother to include him. The only two I could find have him at 2% (PPIC and Eric Salwell internal).
Unsurprisingly, Peace & Freedom state chair Kevin Atkin refuted Butch Ware’s claims. As Atkins states, he couldn’t have promised Butch Ware he’d be the Left Unity Slate gubernatorial candidate because he doesn’t make that decision. In addition to everything else we’ve learned about Butch Ware, it says a lot that he believes Kevin Atkin’s ‘promise’ to make him the gubernatorial candidate means it would come to pass. Butch Ware literally tried to rig a party nomination in his favor by backslapping and dealmaking with a party insider — the very corporate-esque scheming he claims to oppose in both the Democrat and Republican Parties. As if that’s not bad enough, his dumbass bragged about it on camera and posted it to social media, as if it would make the people who refused to rig a nomination for him look bad. When people tell you who they are, listen.
It’s also not hard to tell which side of this schism is more interested in building progressive momentum and which is interested in bullying everyone else into supporting him under the guise of “unity.” As Atkin points out, Peace & Freedom and Ramsey Robinson have supported the Left Unity Slate, which includes many PSL, P&F, and Green Party candidates. Butch Ware has refused to publicly support them.
It’s not surprising that Butch Ware felt the need to attack the Peace & Freedom Party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the Democratic Socialists of America. Unlike the right, the left is naturally inoculated against snake-oil salesmen and grifting because broad, mass-based political movements don’t tend to glorify a single individual. There have always been figureheads and leaders on the left. But their power comes from speaking to the needs of the masses, not from building a cult-like following that idolizes them. Donald Trump can easily sell Trump Phones to his gullible followers, claiming he got them “the best deal” on mobile calling rates and international negotiations. But if Bernie Sanders ever tried to push half-assembled iPhone knockoffs through his email list, all he’d get is angry responses and unsubscribes. This is why Butch Ware needs to attack other socialists and parties. The elevation of his personal stature only works if left-leaning individuals see him as the only “true” chance of left-wing politics. The existence of another socialist California gubernatorial candidate draws eyeballs away from Butch Ware, and the continued success of the Democratic Socialists of America has proven beyond any doubt that a flexible ballot strategy is more successful than whatever he’s doing. As long as these alternatives exist, Butch Ware’s financial potential and ego remain limited. So, he decides to start drama on social media, telling his followers that every other left-wing party is full of duplicitous liars, and he is the one they must “unify” behind. Of course, if Butch Ware had any interest in winning, or even promoting the Green Party as a viable coalition partner for other socialists, the last thing he’d be doing is starting political fights. His decision to do so tells us a lot about who Butch Ware is and why he is running for governor of California. Though I’m very critical of Ware, I do want to acknowledge that I don’t think his tendencies are shared by the Green Party as a whole. I’ve met wonderful and dedicated Green Party activists and organizers who, like the other Green Party members supporting multi-party candidates on the Left Unity Slate, don’t view politics as a means to personal enrichment. To any Greens reading this: I love you guys, but you have to ditch Butch Ware asap. His starting fights with every other socialist group for his own ego is actively degrading all the other work the Green Party does.
Last week, a judge rejected Butch Ware’s lawsuit and officially removed him from the ballot. Ware claims it’s a ploy by the Democratic establishment to silence him, and the court says he didn’t file the proper paperwork. (I don’t deny the Dems are shady, but stuff like this is why you need a campaign manager.) Currently, Butch Ware is asking followers to donate to his legal fund, even though the case is closed and appeals have been denied. For obvious reasons, you should not give Butch Ware your money. Unless you want it to fund his backup career as a Soundcloud rapper.
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In Solidarity — Joe