Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is seriously considering a bid for the White House.
When asked during an interview with GQ whether he would ever run for president of the United States, Johnson answered solemnly and without hesitation: “I think that it’s a real possibility.”
“Personally, I feel that if I were president, poise would be important,” he said. “Leadership would be important. Taking responsibility for everybody.”
Johnson explained that he would be more inclusive to those he disagrees with, if he were to be elected to the nation’s highest office.
“I wouldn’t shut them out,” Johnson said. “I would actually include them. The first thing we’d do is we’d come and sit down and we’d talk about it.”
The former wrestler said he would like to see “better leadership” from the Oval Office.
I’d like to see a better leadership. I’d like to see a greater leadership. When there’s a disagreement, and you have a large group of people that you’re in a disagreement with—for example, the media—I feel like it informs me that I could be better. We all have issues, and we all gotta work our shit out. And I feel like one of the qualities of a great leader is not shutting people out. I miss that part. Even if we disagree, we’ve got to figure it out. Because otherwise I feel, as an American, all I hear and all I see in the example you’re setting is ‘Now I’m shutting you out. And you can’t come.’ [Disagreement] informs us. The responsibility as president—I [would] take responsibility for everyone. Especially when you disagree with me. If there’s a large number of people disagreeing, there might be something I’m not seeing, so let me see it. Let me understand it.
Johnson, who is registered as an independent, said that he decided not to endorse either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton last year because he wanted Americans to make up their own minds.
I feel like I’m in a position now where my word carries a lot of weight and influence, which of course is why they want the endorsement. But I also have a tremendous amount of respect for the process and felt like if I did share my political views publicly, a few things would happen—and these are all conversations I have with myself, in the gym at four o’clock in the morning—I felt like it would either (a) make people unhappy with the thought of whatever my political view was. And, also, it might sway an opinion, which I didn’t want to do.
Bre Payton was a staff writer for The Federalist. She wrote on subjects ranging from Kanye West to Supreme Court rulings, to 2016 and breaking news. She appeared on Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, NPR, BBC World News, among others, and her work was featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Daily Signal, and WORLD Magazine, to name a few. She had also worked as a reporter for Watchdog.org and received her degree in Political Journalism from Patrick Henry College.
