Sketchy Pyramid Scheme Video Emerges of Former Astronaut Being Considered for VP

This could be considered disqualifying information.

Buying In

One of the top contenders for Kamala Harris' running mate is a former NASA astronaut — who unfortunately, as a newly-resurfaced video shows, used to hawk sketchy nutritional supplements.

As Washington Post columnist Jim Geraghty notes in an editorial about the debacle, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly's involvement in the international multi-level marketing scheme may not entirely disqualify him, but it certainly casts his otherwise clean record in a different light.

In the 2016 video, the former astronaut is seen riding up on a motorcycle and singing the praises of Shaklee, a vitamin and supplement pyramid scheme similar to Herbalife and others like it that promote not only the murky health benefits of their offerings, but big financial rewards for those who buy in, too.

"I took Shaklee vitamins and the Shaklee rehydration drink while in orbit aboard the space shuttle!" Kelly declared, fists pumping, during the recorded promo — which as HuffPost noted in 2019 was one of three he gave on behalf of the more than 100-year-old MLM based in California, though the speech in question was given in China. "They worked very well for me in a very demanding environment."

"Now, it is up to you. It is up to all of you to take those tools that Shaklee and [CEO Roger Barnett] have given you, and turn it into something big!" Kelly continued. "Each and every one of you can create your own successful Shaklee business, and it is the rewards from that business that will help you achieve your own dreams!"

 

Ballooning Chances

Despite the big promises of these sorts of declarations, MLMs like Shaklee rarely end up making regular people any money. In fact, a 2011 study from the Consumer Awareness Institute found that a whopping 99 percent of people who get involved in these pyramid schemes end up losing money on them — likely because they're required to purchase products upfront and sell them at a markup.

This isn't Kelly's first rodeo with weird business choices, either.

Back in 2012, the ex-astronaut cofounded World View Enterprises, a high-altitude balloon company that has, as Axios noted in a report last year, taken several investments from China's Tencent corporation. That company and Kelly's ties to it came under scrutiny after so-called "spy balloons" kept getting spotted in US airspace, and once the Arizona senator's name was thrown into the ring for Harris' VP pick, discussion of it was again re-circulated.

With both these strange extracurriculars pertaining to China, Kelly's otherwise excellent bona fides may have dimmed — especially given the uber-competitive space race being pushed by the current head of NASA.

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