WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The CEO of one of America’s most powerful financial companies said Sunday that CEOs have some attributes that would serve a president well, but running the country might be better left to a politician.
In an interview being broadcast Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was asked by host Chuck Todd whether a CEO would make a good president. Two Republican presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina, have experience as chief executives.
“I think some of the attributes could be good. Running things, knowing how to run things, knowing how to get good people involved,” Dimon said.
But Dimon added, “It’s not sufficient. I think you have a whole ‘nother set of attributes. I think it’s really complex — politics. It’s three-dimensional chess.”
He said he has a lot of respect for how hard politicians’ jobs are.
“When I go to Washington, I don’t walk away saying, ‘It’s terrible,” he said. “I’m saying, ‘my God, they’re dealing with some really complex stuff, and it’s not that easy to do.’”
Dimon, who steered the nation’s largest bank by assets through the perils of the Great Recession, also said he doesn’t expect something in return when he gives money to candidates. Donald Trump, whose candidacy Dimon refused to comment on specifically during the interview, has repeatedly said that when he donated to candidates in past elections he expected favors. Trump has called his competitors for the Republican presidential nomination “puppets” for accepting donations.
Dimon noted that JPMorgan doesn’t give to presidential candidates.
In a potential blow to Hillary Clinton, whom he supported and gave money to in 2007 and 2008, Dimon declined to say whether he would support her as the Democratic presidential candidate or even whether she would make a good president.
“I’m still a Democrat. But I am not going to vote — knee jerk for any one party or any one thing,” he said. “I’m gonna look the individual in the eyes. I’m gonna look at their person and how they feel about people... and decide who I think should be president.”
