Donald Trump’s unconventional campaign might just inspire another loudmouthed outsider to join the hunt for the White House. Jesse Ventura told the Washington Examiner he is considering a run for president as a Libertarian candidate.
Ventura compared Trump’s presidential campaign to Howard Stern’s radio show before it joined SiriusXM radio, given how Trump has conditioned the media to cling to whatever he has to say next. As a result, Ventura thinks his own chances of success on the campaign trail are quite high.
“It’s entertainment, man, and if we’re turning our politics into entertainment then I got a good shot,” Ventura said. “I mean if government is going to become entertainment I good shot at it.”
While still governor of Minnesota, Ventura encouraged Trump to seek the 2000 Reform Party presidential nomination. Trump ultimately didn’t run and Ventura eventually left the party.
Ventura is out promoting the second edition of his book, American Conspiracies, which isn’t a typical candidate’s memoir, but its first edition was a New York Times bestseller. The former Minnesota governor writes that he knows a CIA operative was placed in a high level of his administration, but said he did not want to talk more about it for fear of getting arrested. He also thinks the truth about the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks remains concealed and that there is a secret underground bunker located beneath the Denver International Airport in Colorado.
Also like Trump, his campaign would appear focused on bringing former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush down, and said Bush “should be disqualified.”
While Ventura said he is not yet sure whom he may support, he wants the next president to pull the U.S. out of the Middle East entirely. And he seems to enjoy Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a GOP presidential candidate, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a socialist running as a Democrat for president. But Ventura said he thinks no outsider candidate can possibly win and the whole system needs an overhaul.
“I’m sick of this. When will the next presidential election campaign begin, January 2017?” Ventura said. “It’s getting ridiculous. … The public, I believe, won’t have any say so.”
