A day after claiming that Taylor Swift should be president, billionaire investor Ray Dalio walked back his comments while insisting that neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden is ideal for the job.
The founder of the massive hedge fund Bridgewater Associates posted a selfie at a Taylor Swift concert in Singapore on Thursday and wrote that he was inspired by her ability to bring people together.
“@taylorswift13 for President! I just saw her at her concert in Singapore and realized that she can bring together Americans and people in most countries much better than either of the candidates…” he posted on X, formerly Twitter.
It was clear he had a great time: “Watching this concert with people from all over the world made me and them feel good and connected and reminded me how powerful that universal culture is,” he wrote, before posing a question about politics: “Wouldn’t it be great if we had two candidates who could lead that culture and make smart leadership decisions too?”
A day later, Dalio offered up a clarification and no, he added, he wasn’t drunk when he said Swift should be the leader of the free world. “Though obviously,” he added, “I need to work on my selfies.”
He called his endorsement of Swift both a “joke” and a “half-truth,” clarifying that he thinks “she can bring people together a lot better than either of the presidential candidates and bringing people together is one of the most important things a president should do.”
He added that her superstardom is a great illustration of America’s cultural power worldwide and that politicians should take her as an example.
“After all, geopolitical power is largely a battle for the hearts and minds of others,” he wrote.
His ideal presidential candidate, he added, could bring people together the way Swift does, and would also be “smart enough to make the right decisions and strong enough to lead most people to do the right things for most people. Unfortunately, I don’t actually see such a candidate [in this election].”
Re: my Taylor Swift for president! comments, no I wasn’t drunk (though obviously I need to work on my selfies) and yes it was a joke, which is a half-truth. The half that’s true is that I think she can bring people together a lot better than either of the presidential candidates… https://t.co/nqvfEWEUZx
— Ray Dalio (@RayDalio) March 8, 2024
Dalio’s clarification comes a day after President Biden made his State of the Union Address in which he attacked Republicans on tax break policies and proposed increasing taxes on billionaires and corporations.
Biden’s address showed that politicians continue to be at ends and in a constant state of gridlock as November’s presidential election approaches. The partisanship is so bad that the 118th Congress, whose session ends in 2025, is on track to be one of the least productive in history, passing only 34 bills in the first year of its two year session. For comparison, the 117th Congress, which met during Biden’s first two years as President, passed more than 300 laws.
Dalio previously sounded the alarm about political polarization at Fortune’s Global Forum in Abu Dhabi in November, insisting that the U.S. instead needs “a very strong middle” approach. Before she dropped out of the presidential race this week, Dalio’s preferred candidate was former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who he said is smart and “can work across party lines.”
He added that a rematch of the 2020 election would be bad for everyone.
“I pray that we do not have another Trump-Biden election, because that will produce a lot of problems,” Dalio said.
