During an interview this week with Michael Smerconish, a caller named Milton asked Charles Barkley to run for U.S. Senate. In response, Chuck ripped politicians, calling them “fools,” then explained why he would never run for political office.
Before that, however, Charles Barkley had already expressed disdain for politicians, telling Smerconish, “I’m so fed up with the entire political system. Well, you have to be a Democrat, Republicans, conservative, liberal. Uh, now you got to be a socialist. I mean, it’s silliness out here. I’m an independent person. I got my own brain.”
Barkley then added, “The problem is people are brainwashed. They’re like, “I’mma be a Democrat. I’m gonna be a Republican.” Right. All you have to do is sway three to five percent of the people with something they’re passionate about or against, and that’s how you win elections.
“I don’t agree with everything Democrats or Republicans do. Why would I just say I’m a Democrat? Everybody should be an independent. I mean, that makes zero sense.”
Charles Barkley explained why he hates CNN
That discussion led Barkley to then go on a tangent about how much he dislikes CNN.
“One of the reasons I hate CNN now, and I work with CNN,” Charles Barkley explained. “I’m sitting there watching the night shows. They have two Republicans on. Two Democrats. They scream at each other for an hour, and I’m like, ‘That’s an hour of my life I can’t get back.’
“Because the Republican’s gonna say everything the Democrats do is wrong. The Democrat’s gonna say everything the Republicans do is wrong. What’s bad about it is, they’re all successful people. I want to help poor people. They make you pick a team based on race, education. Man, this is just rich people against poor people.”
Why Charles Barkley has no interest in running for Senate
Later in the interview, after weighing in on the WNBA transgender debate, a listener named Milton in Hampton, Virginia, called in and begged him to run for Senate, in any state.
“Listen, man, I am not gonna go to work with fools every day that don’t care about, I tell people this all the time, Milton. The American public, they’re like in a game, but they don’t even know they’re in a game,” Barkley replied.
“Let’s say, if you get elected, and you’re a Republican or a Democrat, do you really wanna screw the other group? Like, nah. If I get elected, I want the Democrats and Republicans to be on the same roads. I want them all to have the same economic opportunity. I’m not for, like, if I win, I want the other team to lose.”
Barkley added that he came close to running for governor of Alabama once, but he “realized that both the parties suck.”