There are several actors who turned to politics including Ronald Reagan, Al Franken, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Donald Trump. Now someone else may take their acting chops from Hollywood to the White House, this time around it is Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
In May, The Rock discussed the possibility of a 2020 Presidential run in an profile for GQ Magazine, saying, “I think that it’s a real possibility.” He and Tom Hanks then joked about the topic during the cold open while on Saturday Night Live.
Most people probably took Johnson’s Presidential run as a joke. But Johnson seemed dead serious about it during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
And, based on Friday’s interview with InStyle magazine, Johnson has not ruled out a 2020 run.
“This whole thing started with a piece in The Washington Post about a year and a half, two years ago,” Johnson told Laura Brown. “And then, when it started to pick up and got to the point where it was just impossible to ignore, I said, ‘Of course I would consider a run.’ So where we’re at right now is just quietly observing everything happening on the political landscape, and when the next election comes along … I will be watching very intently.”
It is important to point out that in May’s GQ interview, Caity Weaver got Johnson to disclose that he declined to endorse Hillary Clinton or Trump.
“But I also have a tremendous amount of respect for the process and felt like if I did share my political views publicly, a few things would happen,” Johnson told Weaver in the GQ profile. “And these are all conversations I have with myself, in the gym at four o’clock in the morning—I felt like it would either (a) make people unhappy with the thought of whatever my political view was. And, also, it might sway an opinion, which I didn’t want to do.”
Johnson also talked about the current NFL racial protests. saying, he was getting upset by all the bitterness in the country.
“At first, I was getting angry, of course. Because these scenarios are right in front of us—when the players are kneeling as a last resort, as a desire to be heard, clearly they’re not being heard. It’s an opportunity for our leaders, our president and his staff, to hear them, truly hear them, and not be angry. I used to get pissed every day. I would wake up and pick up my phone and look at the alerts, and it’s like, “What am I gonna read today?” But then I realized I needed to try and be as grateful as I could possibly be. What we’re in need of is a greater leadership that’s inclusive and truly hears the people and doesn’t have a knee-jerk reaction out of anger. Scenarios like this, while divisive, also clarify what we really want in the future. And we’ll have a chance in a few years to cast another vote, and we’ll see where the American people are when that time comes.”
