VanderSloot: 'We Need Rubio; Trump is full of baloney' - East Idaho News
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VanderSloot: ‘We Need Rubio; Trump is full of baloney’

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Melaleuca CEO Frank L. VanderSloot announced in November that he is endorsing Republican Marco Rubio for president.

VanderSloot was one of the first major donors to pledge his support for the Florida senator and has publicly said he will raise millions of dollars in bundled donations for the candidate.

VanderSloot sat down with EastIdahoNews.com reporter Nate Eaton to discuss why he’s backing Rubio. The local billionaire also shared his thoughts on Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, why he’s so passionate about politics and why this election is so important.

Here’s a transcript of the interview.

Nate Eaton, EastIdahoNews.com reporter: You were one of the first people to come out and endorse Marco Rubio back before Thanksgiving. Some people may have thought you were a little early. What are your thoughts today?

Frank VanderSloot, Melaleuca CEO: I think he’s doing really well and I think he’s going to be the candidate and the President of the United States. I surely hope so. We need him.

We were the first, one of the very first, to come out and endorse him while everybody else was sitting on the sidelines waiting to see who was going to take the lead because they wanted to bet on the winner. I think that’s inherently dangerous. You wait around to see who’s going to win and you might get the wrong outfit.

Which is, by the way, what I think we’ve got with Donald Trump. I think he’s dangerous. There’s good documentation on Donald Trump that he doesn’t keep his promises. Four bankruptcies – pretty good proof you don’t keep your promises. Really good proof. You have a contract where you say you provide this loan and I will pay you. It doesn’t say unless things get tough and if things get tough then I won’t.

I don’t know very many people who have filed a single bankruptcy. I know a lot of men with integrity who could have filed for bankruptcy, but didn’t because they made promises.

Here’s a man who will make a promise and then say, ‘I’m a billionaire – I don’t care if you lay off people and I don’t care if it destroys your company. I’m not paying because I’m a little low on funds right now.’

Eaton: What is it about him that’s relating to the public? Why does he have such high numbers?

VanderSloot: I think he’s full of baloney. I think he’s a star. He’s full of sound bites and people are angry. He’s angry and he says exactly what they want to hear.

Trump

They don’t think things through well. If you look at people who are following him, they are not the high intellect folks. If you go through the demographics on the folks who love Donald Trump, it’s the people who love sound bites and haven’t necessarily thought things through really well.

But I even think those people, once they start thinking about what they’re doing and think about what kind of country we’d end up with if Donald Trump was president, (they will realize) they don’t want that kind of president. Honestly you don’t know what he’s going to do. He’ll promise anything and break his promise.

When you file four bankruptcies, it’s documentation that either you’re a bad visionary or you’re a bad manager. You’ve really mismanaged things or you’re just really bad with decisions.

Here’s the game that Donald Trump is playing and anybody could win at this game. The game is – I bet wild and I bet big. If I win, I take my winnings. If I lose, I don’t pay.

You could take that to Vegas and if they let you pay like that, anybody could be a billionaire with that kind of a tactic. He’s learned how to use the bankruptcy stuff to his advantage, but that doesn’t mean he’s a good businessman.

Eaton: What is it about Marco Rubio that you like?

VanderSloot: I like Marco Rubio because he knows his stuff. He’s the brightest of all of them and he’s the most articulate. I believe we need a leader that can unite us and bring us together.

If you look at Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, their positions are pretty similar. The difference is Marco Rubio will not say, ‘Hey, we have to do this because it’s the Constitution’ but he’ll acknowledge it’s the Constitution and then he will go a step further and say this is why it’s still good today. He’ll explain why the Constitution is right because it is the most successful way for us to do it.

Marco Rubio

He’ll add an element that will bring people on board with his decision who didn’t originally agree with him, because he will treat them with respect. He will teach them in a way that they’ll say, ‘Now I get it and now I can see why you’re doing what you’re doing.’ I like that.

He’s the brightest at foreign policy and the most experienced.

Eaton: Does his age worry you?

VanderSloot: It doesn’t. His age invigorates me. We should be having young ideas. He’s got enough experience and he’s been involved with enough things and he’s a deep enough thinker that he can understand a lot of things.

I talked to Mitt Romney about this and as far as experience goes, you can surround yourself with a lot of experienced administrators to get things done but you’ve got to have the common sense to make the right decisions in the first place and that’s what he’s got.

Eaton: You mentioned Ted Cruz. His numbers are climbing up.

VanderSloot: He really worries me. He worries me because he says things that aren’t true. We’re seeing tricks from him already. I don’t want somebody like that in the White House.

But he’s not every going to be in the White House. I can guarantee you he won’t make it.

Ted Cruz

This nation will turn against him. There aren’t enough Republicans to nominate a president who is way on the fringe. He can garner maybe 25, 30 percent of the Republican base, (but) we need all the Republicans to elect a president. There’s not enough Republicans to elect a president – we need all the Republicans, a few Independents and a handful of Democrats.

You’re going to need Hispanic votes and you’re going to need some African American votes. If you’re going to put a president in the White House, you’re going to need a lot of votes. Ted Cruz only has a tiny fraction that will ever vote for him because they understand where he’s been, they understand where he stands and they understand, most importantly, how he stands there.

He does not have a single friend in the Senate who has endorsed him. He makes enemy after enemy and as people get to know him, they like him less and less not better and better. He can have a little surge but if we nominate him, it will be just like John McCain or Bob Dole.

Bob Dole was really likeable, but not electable. John McCain wasn’t electable. Even Mitt Romney. We couldn’t get him elected. We’re gonna be in real trouble if we put Ted Cruz up as our nominee. Then we’ll have Hillary Clinton as president. That scares me.

Eaton: In less than two weeks, we have the Idaho primary. Does that say something about Idaho’s position?

VanderSloot: It’s all changed for Idaho. In the past, Idaho’s vote didn’t mean anything. We already knew who the candidate was going to be by the time we got around to voting. A lot of candidates have visited here. Jeb Bush has been here, Marco Rubio’s been here a couple of times, Carly Fiorina has been here, even Rand Paul was here so yeah, Idaho’s relevant for the first time in history.

Eaton: I can tell you’re passionate about this. Why are you so passionate and willing to put in so much time, money, and effort into this?

VanderSloot: Oh my gosh. If anybody’s paying attention to what’s happening in our country, and if you’re paying attention and you’re not worried, then there has to be something wrong with you.

America has kept the world safe for decades – since World War II. It was America that fought the war and won the war. If it hadn’t been for America, Hitler would have won. Since then, the strength and power of America has been the thing that’s kept all these renegade countries and dictators from going over the top.

The fact that we existed and the fact that we might be there as a proponent for peace and the freedoms of people and the things we believe in – I think it is really important in this world.

It’s appalling what people will go to for power and strength and religion and all of that stuff. We need America to be strong. We need free enterprise and all the things that made America great.

We need the American dream where the little guy can get ahead. That happened to me and I’d like to see that happen to a lot of people.

This idea of taking from the productive and giving to the nonproductive – I think that’s a dangerous way for us to go. It hasn’t worked for any country yet and it’s a disaster when the countries do that.

It’s interesting – China is going the other way and they are getting into free enterprise. China’s becoming the power and our leaders are taking us in a different direction.

If you’re not worried about all that stuff, you’re not watching. You wonder how much more this nation can survive the kind of debt we have and the amount of money we’re spending.

What happens when America goes bankrupt? I don’t want Donald Trump to be there when that decision has to be made. I’ll tell you that.

Eaton: Thank you very much for speaking with us.

VanderSloot: Thank you.

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