Name: Bob Iger.
Age: 66.
Appearance: Presidential.
In that Bob Iger is the chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company? Makes sense. Well, yes, that. But also in that Bob Iger is probably going to be the next president of the US.
Oh, really? Will Mickey Mouse be his running mate? Try taking this a bit more seriously. Let’s look at what we know; in 2019, Iger is scheduled to step down as head of Disney.
Right. And he’s very deliberately positioning himself against Donald Trump’s big-ticket issues. He’s spoken out about gun violence, and has urged empathy for US football players who kneel during the national anthem.
That doesn’t mean … He’s also refusing to rule out the possibility of running for president in 2020.
Oh crap! That means he’s definitely going to run for president! It definitely does! At a Vanity Fair conference last week, Iger said: “I have a full-time job right now, and I love this job, and I’m committed to it, and I’m spending all my time on that and on my family.” Which, as everyone knows, is plainly code for: “I want to be president so badly it makes me dribble.”
What political experience does he have? None.
But surely … Nope, that’s just the way things are now. The current president of the US has zero political experience, so now the floodgates are open. If you’re rich and fancy being president, there’s plenty to prove you’ll probably end up being president.
So it’s going to be Trump v Iger in 2020? Steady on. Iger isn’t the only monstrously wealthy magnate with designs on the White House. Look at Mark Zuckerberg. He seems to have given up running Facebook in order to frown and nod at people, which is a clear sign that he also wants to be president.
Oh, God. And Howard Schultz from Starbucks has also started to list statistics in public in a very presidential way, so let’s not rule him out either.
Is this a joke? And Oprah Winfrey publicly thanked a reporter who wrote a piece recommending her for the presidency last month.
Seriously? Is this the future of politics? High-profile billionaires thinking that personal wealth somehow trumps political experience? Terrifying, isn’t it? For God’s sake, nobody tell Richard Branson.
Do say: “The world has gone mad if it thinks money alone makes a person presidential.”
Don’t say: “Vote Rupert Murdoch 2020.”
