Matthew McConaughey Says He'd Consider Running for Governor of Texas
Source - Matthew McConaughey says he'd consider trading acting for politics by running for governor of Texas.
"I don’t know. I mean, that wouldn’t be up to me. It would be up to the people more than it would me," the "True Detective" star said Tuesday on "The Hugh Hewitt Show" when asked about the prospect of making a gubernatorial run.
"I would say this: Look, politics seems to be a broken business to me right now. And when politics redefines its purpose, I could be a hell of a lot more interested," the Lone Star State-born performer said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is up for reelection in 2022.
"I want to get behind personal values to rebind our social contracts with each other as Americans, as people again," McConaughey told Hewitt.
The country, he said, doesn't "trust each other."
"That leads to us not trust in ourselves, which if that becomes epidemic, then we’ve got anarchy," the actor said. "I’m all for the individual, and I think it’s for — to make collective change that the individual needs to look in the mirror and say, 'How can I be a little bit better today?' ...
"Coming out of the election right now, we’ve got to stabilize. This country’s got to stabilize first before we start to say, OK, here’s how we’re marching out of this together, forward," he said.
As a general rule, I lean toward entertainers staying out of politics. Especially actors. Sometimes because you discover that when people who playact for a living speak extemporaneously, you realize how many vapid, uniformed narcissists get paid millions to speak other people's words and can't think for themselves. But then in some cases, it's because politics is beneath them. That it's even skeevier than show business and you'd hate to see a star you respect debase themselves that way.
Then on the other hand, it can work. I lived through the days when the guy who played George Gipp in "Knute Rockne: All American" was president, and generally speaking those were good times. Then not all that long ago, one of out every 25 states had a governor who starred in the movie "Predator." That's 4% of all United States. And you can be damned sure I would've voted for Carl Weathers if he'd just been willing to put his name on the ballot in my state.
And I say this not knowing a thing about Matthew McConaughey's political worldview: Count me in. I'm being 100% serious. I don't know if he's a free market capitalist, a democratic socialist or a moderate. He could be right of Barry Goldwater or left of Bernie Sanders or a pure libertarian, and it wouldn't matter to me. We could work around his philosophy. What I do know for sure is that Matthew McConaughey could unite a very Disunited States of America.
Try to imagine anyone who could do it better? You can't. He's that rare celebrity that no one doesn't like. Whether you're drawn to him through his Guy Movies like "Wolf of Wall Street" or his Chick Flicks like "Magic Mike" or his intellectually challenging art films like "Dallas Buyers Club" or his string of RomComs where he was always leaning up against his love interest in the movie poster (here, here and here). Hell, I'll vote for him just for "Reign of Fire," because I want political leaders who have pretend-battled CGI dragons. And don't get any of us started on "True Detective" Season 1.
McConaughy is the top of the celebrity food chain, with no predators threatening him. Maybe some Oklahoma Sooner fans try not like him, but I can't see any of them succeeding. He's cool. He's intelligent. He's sexy. He's got just enough of the metaphysical weirdo/stoner thing going for him to stand out from the usual safe, exceedingly boring career pols. Being the governor of the second largest state seems like a major step backward for him in terms of prestige, but it could just be like going to the minors for a couple of years before you get the call up to the bigs. Put him behind the Resolute Desk and let him charm the pants off the Chinese, the Russians and anyone who wishes to us harm. At the very least, he'd be the one person all Americans can agree upon.
McConaughy for President. Make America Alright Again.