A southern California man is taking on the mammoth challenge of trying to wrench the Republican presidential nomination away from President Trump ahead of the 2020 election. Matt Matern, an attorney with offices in Los Angeles, Okland, and Sacramento, admits his campaign is a longshot, but says he's running because of his disappointment in Trump.
Matern's campaign focuses primarily on tax reductions, a promise to lower the cost of healthcare, and a novel solution to problem of homelessness.
When it comes to taxes, Matern believes in limited taxation for lower and middle income Americans. He wants to eliminate federal income tax for individuals who less than $50,000 per year and for all families with a combined annual income under $100,000.
Matern's approach to reducing long-term healthcare costs would be to encourage a healthier society. He wants to offer tax breaks for people who make "responsible choices" and "prosecute" doctors and others who profit from prescribing addictive drugs for their own financial gain.
He believes homelessness can at least be partially solved by giving a $10,000 federal tax credit to anyone who takes in a homeless person to get them off the street.
Matern also says he wants Americans to take more seriously the responsibility of protecting the environment for future generations. As president, he would attempt to put in place regulations and a tax policies to incentivize clean technology.
To date he has raised $725,036 in campaign contributions, according to Voter's Edge. That pales in comparison to President Trump's campaign, which has taken in well over $253 million in contributions, so far.