The Rock Talks Donald Trump, Possibly Running for President of the United States, More

As noted, former WWE Champion The Rock is on the cover of GQ’s annual comedy issue that hits newsstands next week. GQ followed The Rock around for three days and did a photoshoot with him for a profile that you can see at this link.

Regarding the talk of Rock running for President of the United States that picked up in 2016, Rock said, “I think that it’s a real possibility.” He admitted that he’s given a run a lot of thought since the talk last year. He commented on last year’s buzz:

“A year ago it started coming up more and more. There was a real sense of earnestness, which made me go home and think, ‘Let me really rethink my answer and make sure I am giving an answer that is truthful and also respectful.’ I didn’t want to be flippant—‘We’ll have three days off for a weekend! No taxes!’”

Rock revealed that the camps for both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton reached out to him last year for an endorsement but he turned them down, telling them that he wasn’t making an endorsement because he prefers to see Americans make up their own mind. He commented on not giving an endorsement:

“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.”

While Rock spoke at the 2000 Republican convention and attended the Democratic convention that same year, Rock says he’s registered as an independent these days. When asked how President Trump is doing, Rock said:

“Mmm… With any job you come into, you’ve got to prove yourself. And… Personally, I feel that if I were president, poise would be important. Leadership would be important. Taking responsibility for everybody. [If I didn’t agree with someone] on something, I wouldn’t shut them out. I would actually include them. The first thing we’d do is we’d come and sit down and we’d talk about it. It’s hard to categorize right now how I think he’s doing, other than to tell you how I would operate, what I would like to see.”

He continued:

“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.”

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