While speaking with Megyn Kelly on her show Thursday, radio host and author Charlamagne Tha God disputed the idea that his unwillingness to openly endorse a presidential candidate ahead of the 2024 election is problematic. Charlamagne, who has made it clear he is not voting for Donald Trump, said that he is remaining “objective” despite the fact that “for some reason, it bothers people.”
Much to the frustration of the hosts of “The View,” in a Wednesday interview on that show, Charlamagne declined to outright endorse Biden, or anyone else. Though he eventually described the choice as “binary” and that he will not vote for Trump, he told Kelly that he kept his stance, “simply because I’m not a fan.”
“I don’t think that an endorsement… people think that me not wanting to endorse means that I’m not voting, which I think is the strangest thing ever,” he explained. “There was another moment in that conversation where I even said, ‘Hey, there’s third-party candidates’ — Whoopi told me she’ll beat my behind if I bring up third-party candidates.”
“I just think it’s kind of strange where we are as a culture and as a society where it’s almost like there’s either one of two extremes, and if you’re a person who simply chooses to be objective, simply chooses to look at both candidates and say, ‘Hey, I think there’s some right things here and some wrong things there, there’s some good things there, there’s some good things over here — just me being able to explore both options, all options that are out there’… for some reason, it bothers people.”
Kelly agreed and described what happened at “The View” as “very strange,” as if Charlamagne has “some magic wand that’s going to turn this thing, if you just say, ‘I endorse.’” She then asked if Charlamagne would consider voting for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or any other third-party candiate.
“I’ve looked at all of them,” he replied. “I’ve looked at RFK, I’ve looked at Marianne Williamson, I’ve looked at Cornell West — I’ve looked at all of them. I’ve been looking at third parties since 2016… [in] 2016, people were saying we didn’t have the best options, but I felt like Hillary Clinton was overly qualified to be president, but it’s not like I didn’t explore everything.”
“After President Obama, I explored everything,” Charlamagne continued. “I explored conservatives, I explored the Green Party, I explored Democrats. I feel like that is what you should do as an American citizen.”
“I don’t think the two-party system has been the best thing for us here in America, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with exploring everything,” he said. “I’m actually shocked that there hasn’t been a third-party candidate that’s been able to come along and really galvanize people, especially being that America seems to be so disappointed in the choices that we have now.”
Charlamagne proceeded to downplay Kelly’s assertion that a significant number of Black voters are “migrating” from Biden to Trump. He described reports that estimate 22% of Black voters will vote for Trump as “overstated” and said “most people” in the United States are part of the “exhausted majority.”
A May 20, 2024 Pew Report indicated that 18% of Black voters “lean toward Donald Trump.” The report also stated that among all registered voters, 49% support Trump and 48% support Biden.
“It’s not even just about being tired of Democrats or being tired of Republicans, people are just tired of politics, period,” he explained. “And I think that’s what you’re seeing a lot of now. Even having a conversation about who I’m choosing to vote for… listen, I’ve said it over and over, what I think about both candidates, right? And it’s only May. I don’t know what’s going to happen between now and November.”
“I don’t think much is going to change, but if these people want people to be— if these parties want people to be more energized about their candidates, maybe they should just run better candidates,” he added. “I don’t think it’s rocket science.”
In April, the Pew Research Center published another report that indicated nearly half of voters would like to replace both Trump and Biden as presidential candidates. Biden supporters were “much more likely” to say they’d like to swap out both candidates.
Elsewhere in the interview, Kelly attempted to bring Charlamagne into a conversation about “racist or racially insensitive things” Biden has said in contrast to Trump, about whom she said she “thinks” her guest believes is racist.
“You know what’s the most interesting conversation to me?” he asked her. “I’m glad you brought that up, in regards to Trump – why does nobody ever talk about him being unpatriotic?”
“What I mean by that is if he says he wants to suspend the Constitution to overthrow the results of an election, you know, his lawyers were in court and his lawyers were like, ‘Well, he never agreed to support the Constitution,’ or we saw him attempt to lead an attempted coup of this country — that’s just unconstitutional.”
“Why does nobody ever say he’s not a patriot?” Charlamagne asked.
Back in February, Charlamagne described Trump as a “threat to democracy” and added that voter apathy could be the real problem both candidates face this year. He explained, “And that’s what everybody is up against in 2024. And right now… right now, it feels like the couch is going to win. I don’t who that benefits, you know, by the couch winning… but it feels like the couch is going to win.”
Watch the clip from the interview between Charlamagne Tha God and Megyn Kelly in the video above.
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