Charles Barkley just might be converted from Democrat to Republican in 2016.
The TNT NBA analyst recently spoke to Sports Illustrated and named New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) as candidates who interest him ahead of the presidential election despite the fact that he has previously voted Democratic.
“I am paying close attention to the political situation,” Barkley said of the 2016 election. “I have always voted Democratic. But I like some of the Republicans this time around. I like Chris Christie. I like Jeb Bush. I like those guys.”
When asked what he thinks of Hillary Clinton, Barkley laughed, “Well, I just told you I was thinking about voting Republican.”
Ouch.
Barkley did say that he was “disappointed” with Christie’s response to a question earlier this month about whether Americans should vaccinate their kids amid the measles outbreak.
“All I can say is we vaccinated ours,” Christie said, adding that “parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well, so that’s the balance that the government has to decide.” Christie was immediately hit with criticism, and he later tried to walk back on his comments and rectify the situation — a move that sparked Barkley’s disapproval.
“I’m like, dude, your opinion is just your f—ing opinion,” Barkley explained to Sports Illustrated. “I don’t understand why you answer a question and think everyone is going to agree with you. You can’t live your life like that.”
Barkley continued the political talk when he was asked to name one living person he would like to meet today. The NBA analyst chose King Abdullah II of Jordan because of his strong response to ISIS earlier this month.
“His actions when they [ISIS] burned that kid [a Jordanian military pilot] alive, I thought his actions were heroic,” Barkley revealed. “He was like, ‘No, you cannot do that to my people.'”
“I wish President Obama was like that sometimes,” he added. “I do. I think that is the way we have to treat ISIS. We can’t keep thinking it will go away. I thought it was heroic what Abdullah did.”
