In an interview with Club WWI, Jesse Ventura once again talked about the possibility of running for President of the United States in 2016. Here are highlights:
On if Linda McMahon’s wrestling ties hurt her Senate run: “I don’t know, but I’ll tell you this. If Vince would have given me that kind of money, I’d be the President. How’s that for a quote? When I ran for governor, I only raised $300,000. And that’s a statewide race, like the senate. I only raised $300,000. I made more money doing the job. The job of governor paid $120,000 a year. So I made $480,000 for the four years and I only spent $300,000 to get the job. If I would have had that money, I’d be the President. You give me that much money to spend on an election and I’ll be President. (laughs) I think that answers your question in a very humorous, funny Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura type of way.”
On which wrestling promoter would be the best politician: “Without a doubt, the best and smoothest would be Vince McMahon Sr., not Junior. Vince McMahon Sr. was the coolest, smoothest operator out of all the promoters I ever met – out of anybody in that whole business. You could be madder than a hornet and you’d go in and meet with him, you’d walk out feeling great but accomplish nothing. You’d feel good about yourself. Yet, he didn’t give you a thing. I won’t go into any specifics more than that. I think that describes Vince McMahon Sr. and I think it describes him in a very positive way. That’s how good he was.”
On if he would run for President: “If there’s a grassroots movement to get me ballot access in all 50 states and if they can somehow guarantee – either they protest their brains out to make sure – I’m included in debates. Because you have to be able to debate, I would give it serious consideration. But I’m not going to spend money to get ballot access. It would have to be grassroots effort by people in every state. I need to know that. Because the thing I find most despicable about public service is the obscene money and the sellout and bribery. Jesse Ventura will not sell out to the bribery of special interests. I never took a dime of special interest money when I was governor and I never once, in four years as governor, met with a lobbyist. And I will keep that integrity. So that will require the American people to have to jump through a lot of hoops to get me to do it. Plus, it would mean I would have to leave Mexico and it will require that amount of work from you all to ever even get me to entertain the thought.”