YouTube star MrBeast said he will 'probably' run for President in his mid-40s and plans to win the election by giving away all of his money

• Popular YouTuber MrBeast said he will "probably" run for president in his mid-40s.
• The YouTuber, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, said he would campaign by giving away money.

Jimmy Donaldson, America's biggest YouTuber, said he would "probably" run for president in his mid-40s.

The YouTuber, known as MrBeast to his 105 million subscribers, revealed plans to campaign for the presidency on a September 27 episode of "Flagrant," a podcast hosted by comedians Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh.

Donaldson, 24, said on the episode that he wants to run for president so he can "do what's best for people," but wants to wait until he's in his mid-40s or is around 50 years old first to do so.

The YouTuber explained that he would campaign for the role by giving away money to prove to voters that he "can't be bought."

"If I had literally zero dollars in my bank account and I was like 'vote for me,' I feel like that's a pretty good campaign thing, like, you're voting for me," he said.

He continued, "I think I could make it interesting enough where I could win," adding, "I know how to get people's attention."

Current campaign finance rules put no limit on how much money a privately funded candidate can spend as long as those funds are clearly disclosed in campaign finance expenditure reports. Donaldson's theoretical future campaign could get into trouble, however, if it partakes in a "quid pro quo" system in which votes are exchanged for cash.

Giving money to potential voters during an election is not unheard of. During the 202o presidential race, Andrew Yang proposed a plan to give away $120,000 to 10 randomly chosen families in an effort to boost support for his Universal Basic Income plan.

Donaldson went on to say he might be dissuaded from running if he had to work his way up the political ladder by becoming mayor or running for another less senior political position first.

"If you could just go from — and you know no one ever has done this — being a celebrity to just being president, that would be great," he said, adding, "but I feel like you have to do a lot of politics leading up to it."

Donaldson is not the first YouTube star to suggest a pivot towards politics. In February, controversial YouTuber Logan Paul announced that he plans to run for president in 11 years when he turns 35.

Donaldson is currently the second-most-subscribed individual YouTube creator behind Swedish gaming creator Pewdiepie. In July, Donaldson celebrated hitting 100 million subscribers, live streaming his reaction to reaching the milestone on YouTube.

In that live stream, Donaldson said he planned to continue making content on YouTube for the next 20 to 30 years.

"I feel like this is just the beginning, and I don't know if that sounds arrogant to say, but I really do feel like this is just the beginning, and I have so much more to give creatively," he told fans.

The YouTuber is popular for videos in which he gives away large sums of money to viewers. He rose to fame in 2018 by donating thousands of dollars to small Twitch streamers and YouTubers. More recently, he has filmed elaborate fan competitions. Last year, he recreated the Netflix show "Squid Game" and had 456 people competing for $456,000, and in June, he gave away $500,000 to a fan in a competition inspired by "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory."

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