The actor has certain ideas in mind for when he does enter politics, but before that he wants politics to redefine its purpose.
Matthew McConaughey already has a lot of accomplishments to his name, from being an Academy Award winner to authoring a book; now, the actor could be all set to earn one more title... governor.
McConaughey recently surprised many when he said he didn't mind running for governor of Texas. During an interview on The Hugh Hewitt Show podcast, the actor said, “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.” He also gave his opinion about the current state of affairs. "Look, politics seems to be a broken business to me right now," however, if "politics redefines its purpose, I could be a hell of a lot more interested." The Texas Governor Greg Abbott will be up for reelection in 2022.
Although the entire interview was mainly about his new memoir Greenlights, politics was a part of the discussion as well. Hewitt and the Dallas Buyers Club actor spoke about other actors who've transitioned from films to politics like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Clint Eastwood. "You know, I still question how much you can really get done in politics, and I don’t know if politics is my avenue to get what maybe I am best equipped to get done," he added.
He noted that the current situation of America is quite unstable especially after the country elected Joe Biden as their 46th president. "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.
The actor mentioned the values he would instill in politics if he was to step into it. "I want to get behind personal values to rebind our social contracts with each other as Americans, as people again."
Pointing out how the country doesn't "trust each other," the Interstellar star added, "That leads to us not trust in ourselves, which if that becomes epidemic, then we’ve got anarchy. 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?'"
In a recent interview with Esquire, the actor's political views seemed a bit centrist as he said, "We're really not thinking about a long view about where we're going and how to get there, you know? The far left doesn't seem to want to ever be able to admit the evil that mankind can possess, and the far right doesn't want to think past tomorrow… I want to propose meeting in the middle as a dare."
"I dare you to meet in the middle, instead of like, Oh, that's a place of great compromise. I dare you to come over here and have a look, to have to meet in the middle, at least have to look at the opposition in the eye. At least shake their hand and go, Well what can we agree on?"
After all of this, the People reported that during an interview with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the 51-year-old addressed the news of him running for governor making the rounds and said, "I have no plans to do that right now, as I said, that would be up to a lot of other people." Stressing on politics redefining its purpose once again, the actor added, "As I move forward in life, am I going to consider leadership roles where I can be most useful? I'd love to, I'm doing that regardless. That's where I sit right now."
However, he also mentioned that whenever he's been asked about his ascension into politics, he hasn't said "absolutely no." So maybe we can expect to see him change careers in the future.
The Hill reported that back in 2016, after President Donald Trump won the elections, McConaughey openly vocalized his opinions. "A lot of people that I know on the far left were in denial after he had become the president," he said, "I remember saying, well look, regardless of [Trump's] politics, in the very first question, what do we say in America is successful? What do we give credit and respect?"
He continued, "The top two things are money and fame. And I said guys, just on a very base level, Trump has those, so I don’t know why we should be so surprised that he got elected."
Well, whatever said, it would be exciting to see McConaughey in politics and winning the country's hearts because all he has today is "Alright, Alright, Alright"... right?
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ATppSwZ8vk
https://people.com/movies/matthew-mcconaughey-no-plans-run-governor-texas/
