"The glass is half full" for FUBU Founder Daymond John when it comes to the Trump presidency

FUBU founder and Shark Tank host Daymond John tells Salon's Carrie Sheffield about his thoughts on President Trump

Published February 15, 2017 4:30PM (EST)

This Salon video was produced by Kevin Carlin

While Shark Tank star Daymond John opted to vote for Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump-- businessman to businessman, John is trying to stay optimistic about Trump’s presidency.

“I’m the guy who thinks the glass is half full,” he said during a Salon Talks interview Tuesday. “I did not vote for Trump. I did not believe that he would be a good leader, but my fellow Americans did, and I bleed red, white and blue and that was the process, so I have no choice but to hope that this man does the best he can do for our country and our people.”

John rightly argued that automation and technological disruption are far more powerful forces bigger than any president that disrupt the labor force.

“Now, where can I find anything nice to say about [Trump] ... if I have to be optimistic, the man has buildings all around the world, and that means that he obviously knows how to work with other people and we all know, he is a great businessman,” John said. “Can he apply that to us as a country? I don’t know, but the bottom line is whether it was Trump, whether it was Obama, whether it was Hillary Clinton, whether it was you going to school for four years and you get out of college and bang you’re going to get a great job, nobody’s going to save you. You are going to have to save yourself.”

Founder of his own clothing line, FUBU, John said you can’t blame “the whole world” on any politician, rather Americans should look at their own businesses and how successful they are at keeping up with changes in technology.

“You can look at your business,” John said. “It’s ‘17 right now and you’ve been operating the same way in business since ‘07, Trump ain’t going to help you … You think Trump’s going to help you? You’re driving a truck and in 10 more years, you will not have a job and that has nothing to do with Trump. You’re going to have to learn how to program and things like that.”

John just recently launched Blueprint + Co, a coworking sharespace for “sharks.” He created it as a high-end, selective workplace for businesspeople to surround themselves with other successful businesspeople.


By Carrie Sheffield

Carrie Sheffield is a Salon Talks host, founder of Bold and adviser to Lincoln Network. She previously wrote editorials for The Washington Times, covered politics for POLITICO and The Hill and analyzed municipal credit for Goldman Sachs and Moody's Investors Service.

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