Former GE CEO and famed businessman Jack Welch lent his backing to Republican Donald Trump Tuesday, and said Trump’s plans on taxes, regulations, immigration, and a number of other issues were preferable to those of Hillary Clinton.
In a lengthy appearance on CNBC Tuesday morning, the 80-year old Welch said he preferred Trump based on his policies, not his personality.
Clinton, he said, would be “Obama-plus” in terms of increasing debt and regulations.
“This is a binary choice: You either take the Republican agenda, or you take the Democratic agenda,” Welch said, a factor that he said “never Trump” Republicans should take into account.
Welch, who retired from GE in 2001, has long been a Republican. He supported Mitt Romney in the 2012 election, and generated controversy when he tweeted that the strong September 2012 jobs report, released right before the election, was rigged by “the Chicago guys,” a reference to President Obama’s aides.
Welch ran down a number of areas in which he thought that Trump’s ideas were better than Clinton’s, including immigration, environmental regulations, and labor law. “When you look at that, you absolutely want the Republican side,” he said.
