Jimmy McMillan, the oddball former presidential candidate known as the “Rent Is Too Damn High” guy, has endorsed Donald Trump for president.
McMillan offered his endorsement to the real estate tycoon in an interview with the New York Daily News, citing Trump’s stance on veterans’ issues.
“He’s the only one who is supporting my brother veterans which is good enough for me,” the paper quoted McMillan as saying.
“My main concern is helping my brother veterans get help,” he added.
It’s a change of focus for McMillan, who first attracted attention as the founder of the Rent Is Too Damn High party. In 2012, McMillan, who cultivates attention-grabbing facial hair, ran for president calling attention to high rents in New York City, where he lives, and elsewhere. Trump, as a developer of luxury real estate properties, charges high rents, including $6,000 per month for a one-bedroom apartment in his famous Trump Tower, the Daily News noted.
But McMillan is also a veteran of the Vietnam War, and pointed to Trump’s advocacy for veterans as a selling point. Trump hosted an event for veterans Thursday night rather than participate in the GOP presidential debate, claiming to raise more than $6 million.
On the campaign trail, Trump has frequently raised the issue of poor treatment of veterans as a reason for his candidacy, though he has not offered a plan for addressing the issue.
Housing costs, in contrast, have not been a major factor in the presidential campaign, even though the country is in the midst of a rental affordability crisis, according to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, that is expected to get worse.
Trump was not among the presidential candidates who joined a forum in October on housing affordability. One of his competitors, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, acknowledged at the forum that rent is “not the sexiest issue in the world” and that the topic “kind of depresses people,” according to the urban policy publication Next City.
