JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said he would be worried if Donald Trump landed back in the White House after the 2024 election — one month after the bank boss shut down rumors of his own presidential aspirations.
“I would worry about another Trump presidency too,” Dimon said in a 45-minute sit-down video interview with the Economist‘s editor-in-chief that was released on Tuesday.
The 67-year-old Dimon declined to delineate which political party he would support in the next election, and said that policies on both sides are “highly misguided.”
“There are a lot of very smart people in both parties that I know want to get things right, and I try to focus on that,” he added.
Dimon claimed it would be nearly impossible for him to win an election without a background in politics or the military, and noted that Trump was perhaps the only exception.
“I’ve never really believed I’m suited for it,” Dimon told the Economist.
However, he made people believe otherwise when he stirred speculation of his own presidential bid at a conference in 2018, when he reportedly quipped about hypothetically campaigning against then-President Trump.
“I think I could beat Trump … because I’m as tough as he is, I’m smarter than he is,” Dimon said, according to a report by CNN.
Trump hit back at Dimon at the time, calling him a “poor public speaker and a nervous mess.”
In 2019, Dimon fueled rumors that he’d rival Trump on the 2024 presidential ballot when he told CNBC that he considers himself “barely a Democrat.”
He clarified that “my heart is Democratic, my brain is kind of Republican.”
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said in May that Dimon should run for president in the next election.
Ackman praised the “exemplary leader” who “superbly managed” JPMorgan, the nation’s largest bank that has more than $3.6 trillion in assets.
Most recently, Dimon said, “I love my country, and maybe one day I’ll serve my country in one capacity or another,” duing a Bloomberg TV interview in May.
JPMorgan squashed the theory weeks later, noting that “he is very happy in his current role,” and plans to stay in it another “three and a half” years.
“As he has said in the past, Jamie has no plans to run for office,” the bank added in a statement.
Bank CEOs like Dimon have been floated over the years as potential candidates for senior government positions such as Treasury secretary or other economic policy roles.
Henry Paulson, Goldman Sachs’ former CEO, led the Treasury during the 2008 financial crisis.