In the new comedy series Young Rock, which is based on Johnson’s early life, the star makes appearances throughout as he runs for president in the year 2032. Speaking with USA Today this week, Johnson addressed the renewed rumors that he may make a real-life bid for commander-in-chief one day.
“I would consider a presidential run in the future if that’s what the people wanted. Truly I mean that, and I’m not flippant in any way with my answer,” he said. “That would be up to the people. … So I would wait, and I would listen. I would have my finger on the pulse, my ear to the ground.”
The former WWE star and father of three broached the subject of making the White House his home in an interview with GQ back in 2017, when he said he’d “like to see a better leadership” at the time. (He went on to endorse now-President Joe Biden in the 2020 election last year over incumbent former President Donald Trump.)
“I’d like to see a greater leadership. When there’s a disagreement, and you have a large group of people that you’re in a disagreement with — for example, the media — I feel like it informs me that I could be better,” Johnson told GQ. “We all have issues, and we all gotta work our s— out. And I feel like one of the qualities of a great leader is not shutting people out. I miss that part.”
“Even if we disagree, we’ve got to figure it out,” he continued in the 2017 interview. “Because otherwise I feel, as an American, all I hear and all I see in the example you’re setting is ‘Now I’m shutting you out. And you can’t come.’ [Disagreement] informs us. The responsibility as president — I [would] take responsibility for everyone. Especially when you disagree with me.”
“If there’s a large number of people disagreeing, there might be something I’m not seeing, so let me see it,” he said. “Let me understand it.”
In the 2017 interview, the movie star also said if he were president, “poise would be important” and “leadership would be important.”
“Taking responsibility for everybody. [If I didn’t agree with someone] on something, I wouldn’t shut them out. I would actually include them,” said Johnson at the time. “The first thing we’d do is we’d come and sit down and we’d talk about it.”
