When the winner of the Democratic primary in American Samoa was announced Tuesday, it wasn’t President Joe Biden.
Running essentially unopposed, Biden has been racking up Super Tuesday victories left and right. But he didn’t make it a complete sweep.
No, Biden lost American Samoa.
And to who, well, no one knows.
“WHO IS JASON PALMER?????” demanded one X user.
Palmer’s own website acknowledges that he’s a “longshot candidate” with “very little chance of winning,” who’s only running to change the conversation. His out-of-the-blue appearance when the news hit of his win certainly provoked plenty of conversation about who the hell he was.
“You’re probably wondering, who is this Jason Palmer, I’ve never heard of him before,” Palmer said in a video posted on his campaign YouTube channel. “Well, on the mainland, I’m actually very well known as an education technology leader, investor and executive.”
Palmer’s campaign website also has a Palmer.AI to help explain.
“Jason Palmer is an entrepreneur, impact investor, and philanthropist. He was born on December 1, 1971, in Aberdeen, Maryland” an AI version with Palmer will tell you. “He is running for President of the United States in 2024 as a Democratic candidate.
But online, no one believed it.
“Jason Palmer rolled American Samoa by telling them he’s actually really popular over here,” posted @KateHydeNY on X in reaction to the video.
According to Palmer’s Linkedin page, Palmer has been involved in a variety of Edtech initiatives, as well as holding board and executive positions for education companies like Regent Education and Kaplan.
“I’ve been a lifelong student of foreign affairs,” Palmer wrote on his website. “Fareed Zakaria, Thomas Friedman, and Nicholas Kristof are some of my favorite writers on the subject. My Quaker faith always leads me to prioritize peace and saving lives first. As a beacon of hope in the world, the United States must seek not to enflame global conflicts, and we should not try to be the world’s policeman.”
Plenty of people joked about Palmer’s win in American Samoa being the product of a sophisticated stealth campaign that played out behind all of our backs.
“jason palmer laying grassroots in american samoa for weeks while nobody noticed,” quipped @Atom_M0ther.
“Jason Palmer, you have shocked the nation,” joked @ItsTanbirC.
Others joked Biden would be coming for him immediately.
Palmer, who beat Biden by 11 votes, 51-40, was also touted as an example of some of the surprising ways the island territory has voted in past Democratic nomination contests.
“American Samoa Democrats major in trolling the Democratic presidential primary,” posted @geoffreyvs. “First, they vote for Bloomberg in 2020, now complete nobody Jason Palmer. Incredible stuff.”