Speaker 1: I have no desire to be a politician. My life
Speaker 1: is pretty well, but I've decided I'm no longer gonna
Speaker 1: close that door. I'm gonna keep my options open. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna entertain the possibility and if it comes in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty late, twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven, where I
Speaker 1: look at this country and I think it's an absolute
Speaker 1: mess and there's legitimate reason to believe, whether it's via
Speaker 1: exploratory committees or anything else, that I indeed would have
Speaker 1: a legitimate shot to win the presidency in the United States.
Speaker 2: I am not gonna rule it out, and I'm not.
Speaker 1: Playing I'm gonna be very very calm today because I
Speaker 1: don't want the excuses coming my way about I'm enraged,
Speaker 1: I'm angry, and all of this other stuff.
Speaker 2: I'm a human being.
Speaker 1: I get discussed by certain things that I see sometimes
Speaker 1: and sometimes I don't. But I think today is an
Speaker 1: important day because I think today that I'm going to
Speaker 1: be Dare I say a bit more revealing than I
Speaker 1: ever have been about I stand on a few things
Speaker 1: in life. It's clearly necessary in light of the headlines
Speaker 1: that have been scurrying all over the place over the
Speaker 1: last twenty four hours. That's where we're going to get started.
Speaker 1: Headlines made by yours truly. Specifically, yesterday, at the National
Speaker 1: Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, I was
Speaker 1: sitting down for a conversation fireside chat with Mike McVeigh,
Speaker 1: president of McVeigh Media, somebody who's been a mentor and
Speaker 1: a friend to me for years, helped me resurrect my
Speaker 1: career in this business after I was going in two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine. He asked me about my future as
Speaker 1: a potential presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. For those
Speaker 1: of you who didn't see it, here's more of my response,
Speaker 1: piggybacking off of that cold open you just saw to
Speaker 1: those very questions. Listen up right here. I just think
Speaker 1: that it's a mess right now. I'm not scared. There's
Speaker 1: a lot that I have to learn. I am no
Speaker 1: officiate and I don't make no mistake.
Speaker 2: About it, But damn it. Let me hunker down for
Speaker 2: two or three months.
Speaker 1: I'll know the issues, and once that happens, then imagining
Speaker 1: me on a debate stage with these.
Speaker 2: People, these politicians.
Speaker 1: This is what I do for a living, and if
Speaker 1: for no other reason then the standard of the debate
Speaker 1: stage with tens of millions of people watching, where I
Speaker 1: get to sit back and talk about what you've been
Speaker 1: doing as politicians to literally dissipate and disintegrate the quality
Speaker 1: of America before our very eyes because of your own
Speaker 1: selfishness me having an opportunity to do that. That is
Speaker 1: what I mean when I say I will eat them alive.
Speaker 1: I am not a politician. I don't have a political
Speaker 1: record for them to lean on. They all do, which
Speaker 1: means I get to look at your record and what
Speaker 1: you've done and challenge whether you can legitimately say, not
Speaker 1: just with the cameras rolling, but in front of my face,
Speaker 1: that you actually operated on behalf of what was in
Speaker 1: the best interest of all of America. Who's gonna pull
Speaker 1: that off in front of my face?
Speaker 2: Good luck with that. I wish they would, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1: I'd love to sit up here and tell you that
Speaker 1: I didn't mean what I said. But I do, and
Speaker 1: I think the time has arrived to let you all
Speaker 1: know this is not something that I plan. Contrary to
Speaker 1: people bloviating out there on their podcasts and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: I'm no political efficient model there's so much that I
Speaker 1: have to learn about the intricacies of politics and all
Speaker 1: that it entails, particularly as it pertains to dealing with
Speaker 1: people on Capitol Hill. My god, I wouldn't even know
Speaker 1: how to put a staff together as of yet.
Speaker 2: We understand that part.
Speaker 1: But what I've tried to say to many people on
Speaker 1: many many occasions is that I'm an American citizen, I'm
Speaker 1: a voter, and what has transpired throughout the years, as
Speaker 1: far as I'm concerned, has been reprehensible. I'm a believer
Speaker 1: that the American people have been played as suckers for decades,
Speaker 1: that we've allowed politicians to become career politicians, to sit
Speaker 1: up there and pad their own wallets and look out
Speaker 1: for their own self interest, and it's been at the
Speaker 1: expense of the American people. My proof is the fact
Speaker 1: that we have a thirty seven trillion dollar deficit.
Speaker 2: How is that possible? How could you possibly.
Speaker 1: Be doing your job and be thirty seven trillion dollars
Speaker 1: in debt? How could you do that? It's really certain.
Speaker 1: Things are just very very simplistic to me. Of course,
Speaker 1: that's not the only problem that we have, but something
Speaker 1: needs to be said, and when I said what I said.
Speaker 1: People can dismiss it all they want to, because I
Speaker 1: have no desire to be a politician.
Speaker 2: I'm sincere with that.
Speaker 1: I just signed a multi year contract extension with ESPN
Speaker 1: that will pay me exponentially more than being a politician
Speaker 1: would ever pay me. I don't need politics, but the
Speaker 1: fact that is that our country is in a very
Speaker 1: very bad spot. And when I'm perceived as somebody that
Speaker 1: is excoriating the left and favoring the right, those people
Speaker 1: don't know what they're talking about. But I understand where
Speaker 1: their animist towards me comes from. It comes from a
Speaker 1: place of me constantly pointing the finger at the Democratic Party,
Speaker 1: because the Republican Party, the GOP, as far as I
Speaker 1: was concerned, until the latest election, they had given up
Speaker 1: on the black community years ago. Let me reiterate, or
Speaker 1: remind you rather, what has transpired since nineteen sixty four
Speaker 1: when civil rights legislation came into effect. There was a
Speaker 1: president by the name of Lyndon B. Johnson who had
Speaker 1: succeeded President John F. Kennedy who was assassinated in nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty three. And even though you have both Republicans and
Speaker 1: Democrats in both Houses of Congress.
Speaker 2: Pushing for civil rights legislation. There were adversaries to that,
Speaker 2: and Lyndon B.
Speaker 1: Johnson said, if we push this through, we will have
Speaker 1: the negroes voting for us for the next two hundred years.
Speaker 1: I'm paraphrasing, but I'm pretty sure it's pretty close to
Speaker 1: that quote. Well, lower, behold what has happened since then?
Speaker 1: The Democratic Party has spent the last fifty five plus years.
Speaker 2: Receiving the black vote. So what did we do?
Speaker 1: We were transparent in our support for one party, giving
Speaker 1: them a license to take us for granted, and we
Speaker 1: alienated the other party, who naturally assumed they'd have no
Speaker 1: shot at getting our votes. And as a result, as
Speaker 1: a community, for the most part, we were disenfranchised, which
Speaker 1: speaks to some of the problems that we have had.
Speaker 1: I only bring that up to say it is legitimate
Speaker 1: when I look at the Democratic Party and I have
Speaker 1: an attitude because I'm looking at you and I'm saying,
Speaker 1: how the.
Speaker 2: Hell did you forget about us?
Speaker 1: The Black community makes up nearly fourteen percent of the population.
Speaker 1: The Hispanic community makes up nearly twenty percent of the population.
Speaker 1: The Consensus Bureau report shows that by the year twenty thirty,
Speaker 1: the Hispanic populace in this country would exceed over thirty.
Speaker 2: Percent of the population.
Speaker 1: But we were talking about Wok culture and Cancel culture.
Speaker 1: We were talking of out problems that really really didn't
Speaker 1: address what really existed in our communities.
Speaker 2: We had a president of Barack Obama.
Speaker 1: Who quietly, adroitly, skillfully went about the business of patrolling
Speaker 1: our borders and making sure that immigration issues were addressed.
Speaker 1: Absent comprehensive immigration reform, What does Joe Biden do? He
Speaker 1: goes into office and he says, open the damn borders,
Speaker 1: and over twelve million undocumented immigrants across the borders, all
Speaker 1: contributing to our problems.
Speaker 2: Why should not have an attitude?
Speaker 1: Why should not look at that and say it's a
Speaker 1: problem you forgot about us. Why shouldn't I look at
Speaker 1: you and I heard you talk about Think about the
Speaker 1: sound bites we saw And I'm gonna get to the
Speaker 1: Republicans in the second, because we all know Trump and
Speaker 1: his tariffs is a problem right now.
Speaker 2: But I'll get to that in a second. What do
Speaker 2: we see.
Speaker 1: We saw a body in an office. We saw him
Speaker 1: clearly debilitated. Every eighty plus year old is not as
Speaker 1: debilitated as he appeared, but he.
Speaker 2: Did appear that way.
Speaker 1: Yet we saw a Democratic politicians standing on Capitol Hill
Speaker 1: chanting four more years.
Speaker 2: We now learned.
Speaker 1: How we was religiously lied to about his state of
Speaker 1: mind and his capabilities. We saw Chuck schumelotta US. We
Speaker 1: saw a plethora of politicians on the left trying to
Speaker 1: defend and support him, only to throw him by the
Speaker 1: wayside after the debate on June twenty seventh, And of
Speaker 1: every person in Kamala Harris, who I respect as our
Speaker 1: former vice president, became the Democratic nominee all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the same one that couldn't make it to the Iowa
Speaker 1: CAUCUSUS in twenty twenty was a rock star. And if
Speaker 1: we didn't all buy in, we were misogynists, We were
Speaker 1: anti women, we were racist, we were all anything you
Speaker 1: could come up with. You heard it over and over
Speaker 1: and over again. That is where my disgust comes from
Speaker 1: when it comes to the left, when I say they
Speaker 1: forgot about us, They forgot about it's the economy, stupid.
Speaker 1: They forgot about if people have money in their pockets
Speaker 1: and they're living fruitful lives, that they have something to
Speaker 1: lose and as a result society.
Speaker 2: From a societyal perspective, people will act better.
Speaker 1: Because if you have something to lose, guess what, you
Speaker 1: ain't trying to lose it. You're not trying to lose it.
Speaker 1: Why do I bring up laws? Why is it appropriate
Speaker 1: that this particular moment in time, because we've got these tariffs,
Speaker 1: these tariff wars going on, and there are some people,
Speaker 1: particularly on the side of Trump, they are all in
Speaker 1: supportive tariffs. Let me be the first to say this
Speaker 1: about Donald Trump.
Speaker 2: I support terror. I have no problem with it.
Speaker 1: I do believe that the United States has been paying
Speaker 1: too much money. We've been giving up, given too much
Speaker 1: money out you go to foreign countries, you see people.
Speaker 1: They talk about how you don't see American vehicles, you
Speaker 1: don't see American products nearly as much as you see
Speaker 1: other products from other nations. This is what they say.
Speaker 1: If that is true, then Trump is right. We are
Speaker 1: getting hosed and something needs to be done about it.
Speaker 1: I am not averse to Donald Trump with tariffs. What
Speaker 1: I'm averse to is how he's handling it. I'm averse
Speaker 1: to the fact that you're gonna go after everybody. I'm
Speaker 1: averse to the fact that you didn't anticipate that China
Speaker 1: would come back with thirty four percent teriffs of their own,
Speaker 1: and in the process of doing so, would set up
Speaker 1: meetings with allies of the United States that are now
Speaker 1: threatening not to be allies because they had Trump's they
Speaker 1: had tariffs imposed on them by Trump, and now because
Speaker 1: of that, they're turning against the United States and to China.
Speaker 2: Now. Only time will tell whether Trump's right.
Speaker 1: Only time will tell whether or not we're gonna find
Speaker 1: ourselves in a disastrous situation, whether recession is in place
Speaker 1: right now, whether inflation is gonna boom. Only time will tell.
Speaker 1: But it's a short time. I don't want to hear
Speaker 1: a year. I don't want to hear two years. We
Speaker 1: can't afford that. Why do I bring all of this up,
Speaker 1: Because all of this is the kind of stuff that
Speaker 1: made me say what I said yesterday at the National
Speaker 1: Association for Broadcasters convention, Because enough to us, I don't
Speaker 1: want to do this. My hope is that politicians who
Speaker 1: are centrists, who think about the economy, who think about
Speaker 1: being humane, who think about small businesses, who think about education,
Speaker 1: who think about our borders, who think about our national
Speaker 1: security can call that's with one another, engage in common
Speaker 1: sense thinking and come to conclusions, so somebody like me
Speaker 1: isn't necessary you want to talk about Donald Trump and
Speaker 1: a potential third term when you want to circumvent the
Speaker 1: twenty second Amendment of the US Constitution and Donald Trump
Speaker 1: and ends up running for a third term, Stephen A.
Speaker 1: Smith will happily invite Barack Obama back into the mix.
Speaker 2: I think he'll beat Donald Trump. Yes, I said it,
Speaker 2: because I think.
Speaker 1: At his core, regardless of what people want to say
Speaker 1: about how he governed, I think he's a centrist individual.
Speaker 1: It's just that both sides will polar opposites against one another.
Speaker 1: I am not oblivious to the fact that since Obama
Speaker 1: was in office, there was a white backlash that took place.
Speaker 1: I am not oblivious to the fact that that made
Speaker 1: folks hunker down and be even more divided than ever before.
Speaker 2: I get it.
Speaker 1: I understand it that black man in office spewing liberal policies,
Speaker 1: telling folks they got to get to the back because
Speaker 1: they lost the election, that this is our time fall back,
Speaker 1: we running the show now.
Speaker 2: And the boldness and how embolden he felt.
Speaker 1: Because he was the president of the United States. How
Speaker 1: much that turned folks off and made them more resolute
Speaker 1: and going against him, and as a result, we were
Speaker 1: even more divided as a nation than ever before.
Speaker 2: I get that.
Speaker 1: I remember the joke that Kat Williams once told that.
Speaker 2: Effing up the country is what it done.
Speaker 1: Goddamn titaments go watch Cat Williams talking about how folks
Speaker 1: were feeling about Obama doing there as a president doing
Speaker 1: his presidency who weren't black.
Speaker 2: The flip side to it, however, is that it's not
Speaker 2: about black or white anymore. It's about America. Just like
Speaker 2: a rising tide lifts all votes.
Speaker 1: As a nation, we're only as strongest as our weakest link.
Speaker 2: And if you have the weaken, the desolate.
Speaker 1: Amongst us, and you're doing nothing for them, and you're
Speaker 1: leaving them out to pasture, where does that leave us?
Speaker 2: See?
Speaker 1: When I think about the Republicans, I think the Republicans
Speaker 1: are asking us, particularly Trump, trust me. And by the way,
Speaker 1: he's in a position to do it because he won
Speaker 1: the popular vote, he won the electoral College vote, he
Speaker 1: won every swing state, he won both houses of Congress,
Speaker 1: He's got a majority sixty three in the Supreme Court.
Speaker 2: I mean, damn.
Speaker 1: Americans didn't just give it to him. He took it
Speaker 1: because he recognized what the left wasn't doing. They were
Speaker 1: preoccupied with nonsense. You want to ask why Steven Asmith
Speaker 1: felt the need to speak up at the NAB conference.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you all this question. We're supposed to
Speaker 2: leave it to.
Speaker 1: Bernie Sanders and AOC Alexandria Cassio Cotest. We're supposed to
Speaker 1: leave it with individuals that will tell you that it's
Speaker 1: perfec okay to tax seventy percent of your money.
Speaker 2: Not that they gave out that number.
Speaker 1: I'm just speculating because of how socialistic they are in
Speaker 1: their thinking.
Speaker 2: We're supposed to say that that's okay, y'all.
Speaker 1: Okay, you okay, We're going to work and making one
Speaker 1: hundred dollars and walking home.
Speaker 2: With thirty You sure about that? Are you cool with it?
Speaker 1: Just tell me, because these are the kind of questions
Speaker 1: that we have to ask ourselves. That is why I
Speaker 1: spoke up. I am an independent, That's who I am.
Speaker 1: I'm not on either side. I'm not on both sides,
Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen. I'm creating my own lane. I have
Speaker 1: no desire to be on either side. Donald Trump has
Speaker 1: his alcoholtes, he has his surrogance, He has people in
Speaker 1: the bullpen. It could be a Mark or Rubio. It
Speaker 1: could be a Jdvans. It could be somebody that we
Speaker 1: don't even know coming from a Republican party. I sincerely doubt,
Speaker 1: as Marjorie tail agree, and I can tell you that much.
Speaker 1: But it got people on the right. That's why everybody
Speaker 1: talks about me on the left. It's not just because
Speaker 1: I voted Democrat and I voted for Kamala Harris. It's
Speaker 1: because that's the side I see myself on. But you're
Speaker 1: kinda wrong about that too, because I don't. When I
Speaker 1: think about me and I think about me running for
Speaker 1: president of the United States, let me re emphasize that
Speaker 1: I am woefully unqualified. But a lot of people say
Speaker 1: so is he, and you put him in a lot
Speaker 1: of people look at his cabinet members and the positions
Speaker 1: he has them in.
Speaker 2: They're there. Let me tell you something about Stephen A. Smith.
Speaker 2: Let me get this.
Speaker 1: Out of the way again. I would create a new lane.
Speaker 1: I'd be a centrist, not quite like Clinton having to
Speaker 1: be dragged by new to work with the right, so
Speaker 1: you can ultimately leave office with a surplus. I would
Speaker 1: have done so voluntarily. I want to work with both
Speaker 1: sides of the aisle. I'd have Democrats and Republicans in
Speaker 1: my cabinet. They would be the ones button heads and fighting,
Speaker 1: but their mandate would be to come to me with
Speaker 1: an idea that works for America. No one can have everything.
Speaker 1: In other words, I'm building a coalition. That's what I
Speaker 1: would want to do, not just the stance. That wouldn't
Speaker 1: be me. One of my friends wrote notes for me
Speaker 1: and stuff like that because he was iron and out.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: If you were running for president, man, this is what
Speaker 1: you should be. Some things he said that were right,
Speaker 1: some things he said that were wrong. Because it's amazing,
Speaker 1: no matter how much I'm on television, no matter how
Speaker 1: much I'm in a public eye, people still don't know
Speaker 1: who the hell I am. So let me give you
Speaker 1: an idea of who that person is. It's about problem solving.
Speaker 1: It's about fixing the issues that really really matter. It's
Speaker 1: about caring about all of America, not just a segment
Speaker 1: of our population.
Speaker 2: It's about all of those things.
Speaker 1: You know who I am, just like you know who
Speaker 1: Donald Trump is that's the problem with the Democratic Party.
Speaker 1: You don't know who the hell a are and you
Speaker 1: don't know who their leader, who can lead them. You
Speaker 1: don't have any clue. I think a guy like West
Speaker 1: Wore out of Maryland can do it. I think a
Speaker 1: guy like Joshapier out of Pennsylvania can do it. But
Speaker 1: we all know they'll have their critics. From a national perspective.
Speaker 1: You talk about West Moore as a governor of Maryland,
Speaker 1: Joshapai is governor of Pennsylvania. Okay, those are localized individuals.
Speaker 1: Andrew Cormo is trying to come back as mayor of
Speaker 1: New York. He was about to be a fourth a
Speaker 1: fourth term governor in New York before his troubles invaded
Speaker 1: the proceedings that he was booted out of all. He
Speaker 1: had to resign from office, and now he's trying to
Speaker 1: make a comeback. Of course, there are individuals as professional
Speaker 1: politics who are far more qualified than me. But haven't
Speaker 1: y'all been paying attention? The American people don't clear clearly
Speaker 1: don't want politicians. They don't mind having a populace in
Speaker 1: the White House. They don't mind having somebody that they
Speaker 1: can lean towards. It, and they can say, at least
Speaker 1: we know him, at least we trust that he's gonna
Speaker 1: be who he is. You might not like Donald Trump
Speaker 1: with the tariffs, he told you he was gonna do it.
Speaker 1: Some people might not like what Donald Trump is doing
Speaker 1: with the borders, but from a ninety five percent toile
Speaker 1: success rate, they say he's doing his job with the borders.
Speaker 1: Inflation is still an issue, a recession is in play,
Speaker 1: if not on its way. So certainly there are things
Speaker 1: that he hasn't done, but he's asking you to give
Speaker 1: him time because he's got to fight with these people.
Speaker 1: The war in Ukraine with Russia. We don't like the
Speaker 1: fact that it seems like he's sided with Russia. But
Speaker 1: what his people are saying is, wait a minute, do
Speaker 1: you want World War three? Bottom line? Were trying to
Speaker 1: stop all of this stuff. I look at Russia, I
Speaker 1: think they're trying to take control of Europe. I look
Speaker 1: at China. They're making footprints, They're gaining footprints in Africa
Speaker 1: and other places in the world. Why because they look
Speaker 1: they're looking for minerals, they want to make sure they
Speaker 1: take care of there own people, amongst other things that
Speaker 1: they want to do. These people are not pro America.
Speaker 1: They're anti America. We understand that the enemy, but what
Speaker 1: are we gonna do about it? At some point in time,
Speaker 1: you got to ask yourself these questions. I don't want
Speaker 1: to come across as somebody who's trying to engage.
Speaker 2: In some kind.
Speaker 1: Of war over identity politics. Maybe I have to monitor
Speaker 1: my tone, and that's fair. But when I think about
Speaker 1: me and what I want to do, I want you
Speaker 1: to know that I'm somebody who rejects party extremes. I'm
Speaker 1: not interested in that. I am a lord or to do.
Speaker 1: Make no mistake about that. You can make a crime
Speaker 1: of your ass gonna be in jail if I was
Speaker 1: in or if I was if I was in control,
Speaker 1: I will throw your ass in jail in the heartbeat.
Speaker 1: I don't like criminals. I don't like people who scare
Speaker 1: the public from living their normal lives. National secure is
Speaker 1: a big deal with me. Trade as opposed to trade
Speaker 1: wars are a big deal to me. Immigration, I tell
Speaker 1: you this right now. See it crazy as it sounds
Speaker 1: outside of the criminals, because we don't need lawless First
Speaker 1: of all, lawless Americans should be in jail, and lawless
Speaker 1: people who ain't Americans should be out of the country
Speaker 1: outside of them. Guess what I'm doing, ladies and gentlemen,
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not throwing anybody out of the country.
Speaker 1: I'm not deporting anybody. You know what I'm doing outside
Speaker 1: of those criminals, I'm leaving others alone.
Speaker 2: But the border is shut down.
Speaker 1: Nobody comes in, nobody until we get our house in
Speaker 1: order for at least the first year.
Speaker 2: Shutting it down. Got a year. Gotta get our house
Speaker 2: in order. That's how I look at it. I'm saying
Speaker 2: all of.
Speaker 1: This to say, while I'm no aficionado, I'm not completely
Speaker 1: lost and oblivious to the problems that are pervasive in
Speaker 1: our country.
Speaker 2: It matters to me.
Speaker 1: I want to make sure that it matters to you,
Speaker 1: and I want to make sure that you understand that
Speaker 1: in the process of us doing these things.
Speaker 2: We gotta do better. We just have to.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about some stuff that I wrote down. Four
Speaker 1: tenth flat tax with the top one percent make it
Speaker 1: two hundred thousand dollars or so. I'm looking at it
Speaker 1: from the standpoint that why do I support a flat tax?
Speaker 1: I'm tired of you coming to me. In one day
Speaker 1: is thirty three. Another whey, there's thirty five. Another way,
Speaker 1: it's thirty nine percent of my money that you could
Speaker 1: take as the federal government. Now, why can't you take
Speaker 1: twenty seven percent? Let's just throw that out. Workers fifty
Speaker 1: five years and younger can diversified percentage of their income
Speaker 1: from Social Security.
Speaker 2: One of my boys gave me that idea. Like that? Good?
Speaker 2: Like that?
Speaker 1: How about Congress only being allowed to spend thirty percent
Speaker 1: of tax revenue? How about them being forced to sit
Speaker 1: in the nation's capital and actually work for the American.
Speaker 2: People instead of themselves.
Speaker 1: I'm still baffled as to how you can be a
Speaker 1: congressional figure or a Senate figure and you may have
Speaker 1: entered the nation's capital with debt, but now when you
Speaker 1: look at your financial portfolio it might be worth millions.
Speaker 1: What's going on there? I don't understand that. And then
Speaker 1: I look at a thirty seven trillion dollar debt. Am
Speaker 1: I supposed to believe that we're just spending willy nilly
Speaker 1: on all of these things and no money is coming into.
Speaker 2: Your pockets as politicians.
Speaker 1: What's the number one reason I tell you, outside of
Speaker 1: being private and not wanting stress in my life as
Speaker 1: to why I'm not interested in politics just because I'm.
Speaker 2: Getting paid and what I'm getting paid, politics ain't gonna
Speaker 2: pay me. That's my position.
Speaker 1: And then I look at some of these reports of
Speaker 1: what politicians are worth. I'm not gonna mention any names,
Speaker 1: but we got politicians that were in debt, that were
Speaker 1: paying student loans. We got politicians that didn't have but
Speaker 1: so much money. The net worth was in the thousands
Speaker 1: and now it's millions. How I'm just saying, by the way,
Speaker 1: one of my boys gave me this idea Congress and
Speaker 1: Senate only in DC two weeks per quarter of to
Speaker 1: vote reduced to course, what the hell you living in
Speaker 1: DC for for what you ain't doing?
Speaker 2: No work? Just a suggestion. All I'm saying is that
Speaker 2: as you look at these things and you look at me.
Speaker 1: I am very sincere when I tell you I have
Speaker 1: no desire to be a politician. I have no interest.
Speaker 1: But I have been asked by folks in the business world,
Speaker 1: folks in corporate America, folks on Capitol Hill, plus folks
Speaker 1: who are friends of mine, to strongly reconsider and to
Speaker 1: at least leave the door open to the possibilities, because
Speaker 1: you never know what state our country could be in
Speaker 1: in the next three years or so. Stephen A, just
Speaker 1: don't shut the door. Just don't shut the door. Please,
Speaker 1: just don't shut the door. That's all I was saying yesterday.
Speaker 1: But what I want y'all to understand is that I
Speaker 1: had every right to say it. It was necessary because
Speaker 1: of everything going on, not just in our nation's capital
Speaker 1: with this tariff's war, but also how helpless the Democratic
Speaker 1: side is to do anything about it. All they can
Speaker 1: do is complain for the moment, nothing else. They don't
Speaker 1: have the seats. And we want to rave about Corey Booker,
Speaker 1: who we respect, speaking on the floor in the US
Speaker 1: House for twenty five hours plus, But what are we
Speaker 1: really power? What are we really empowered to do? The
Speaker 1: party isn't empowered. So it comes down to the people,
Speaker 1: and one of the people spoke up.
Speaker 2: That's all.
Speaker 1: Just want to let y'all know where I'm at. Not
Speaker 1: interested in running. Hope it doesn't come to that. But
Speaker 1: I was told I owe it to all of us
Speaker 1: to at least leave the door open.
Speaker 2: That's what I did.
Speaker 1: By the way, this week, this Sunday, I'm scheduled to
Speaker 1: be on this week with George Stephanopolis on ABC and
Speaker 1: practically every other new work is called. They're apparently taking
Speaker 1: it very seriously, so I have no choice but to
Speaker 1: do so.