Four years ago, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones joked (badly) that if he hadn’t suffered “50 concussions” he’d be the President of the United States instead of the owner of an NFL team. Jones made another Presidential joke on Wednesday, telling 105.3 The Fan in Dallas that he’s not interested in running for the highest office in the land because he doesn’t want the publicity.
“It’s a hard job and it takes a lot as witnessed by the two potential nominees that we have for each of the major parties,” Jones said, via Drew Davisson of the Dallas Morning News. “You not only work hard, but you give up a lot and you get criticized a lot. I didn’t want that, so that’s why I took up being general manager and president of the Cowboys. . . . They’ve got to have some pretty thick skin.”
The notion of Jones running for president seems far less far-fetched now than it did in early 2012, given the potential Trump-fueled welding of business/notoriety and politics. While it appears on the surface that Jones would gravitate to Trump given their shared backgrounds in big business, Jones won’t endorse Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton for President in 2016.
That said, Jones has made an early endorsement for a family member who by all appearances has no current political aspirations.
“I’ve told my daughter many, many times you can be President of the United States,” Jones said.
For generations, it’s a message that parents have given to small children, as an example of the limitless opportunities that come from living in America. Now, it’s becoming a not-so-unrealistic spitball possibility for a family of adults who have the money and the platform to launch a plausible run.
For that, the nation can thank and/or blame and/or both Donald Trump.
