Actor Matthew McConaughey, flirting with the possibility of making a run for Texas governor, is insisting politics is a “bag of rats.”
He made his comments during an interview on The New York Times Opinions “Sway” podcast.
The actor said one of the reasons for entering the race would be to fix the problems that currently exist and redefine politics.
“The other side is — that’s a bag of rats, man,” he said. “Don’t touch that with a 10-foot pole. You have another lane. You have another category to have influence, and get done things you’d like to get done, and help how you think you can help, and even heal divides. Maybe it’s much better outside of politics.”
He noted, “You go in there, you just put on a bunch of Band-Aids in four years, and walk out, and they rip them off when you’re gone. I’m not interested in that. Does politics itself need such repurposing right now that it’s like, don’t get into that game? They’re lost.
“I’m not a man who comes at politics from a political background. I’m a statesman-philosopher, folk-singing poet. It’s necessary to be aggressively centric, at least, to possibly salvage democracy in America right now.”
Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter said the Oscar-winner hasn’t been fundraising or putting together a potential staff. And it said state political insiders are skeptical the Texas native will get into the governor’s race.
But the Reporter noted a July poll by the University of Texas suggested 44% of Texans would cast their ballot for McConaughey in a hypothetical election against just 35% for Gov. Greg Abbott.
It said if he decides to enter the race, it presumably would not be as a Republican since Abbott appears to have the primary locked up. The Reporter said he could run for governor as a Democrat or an independent.
