Calgary Herald

O’leary predicts 2nd term for Trump

- ANDREW MARK MILLER

Billionair­e Shark Tank star Kevin O’leary predicted Tuesday that President Trump would win re-election thanks to the low federal unemployme­nt number.

“In history, there’s never been, in modern times, ever, a president of either party that’s ever lost their mandate when unemployme­nt was under 4 per cent, ever,” O’leary told the panel on The View.

A strong jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics earlier this month showed employers created more jobs in January than economists expected, with 225,000 workers added to payrolls, while unemployme­nt ticked up to a still-low 3.6 per cent.

Fellow Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban, who was sitting alongside O’leary, responded to the prediction, saying, “There’s always a first.”

O’leary said he didn’t consider himself “protrump” while downplayin­g the likelihood of a Bernie Sanders presidency.

“Look, I’m not protrump . ... I’m not pro or con anybody,” O’leary said. “I’m just saying, I’m an investor. I have to think about policy, and I think the chance that Bernie is going to turn this country into a communist country is zero.”

O’leary pointed to Sanders’s recent interview in which the senator said it was unfair to criticize “everything” Cuban communist dictator Fidel Castro did while in power.

“There’s nothing good to say about Fidel,” O’leary said.

O’leary has expressed positive opinions about Trump in the past, including a 2019 interview with Reason in which the Canadian-born billionair­e praised the president as a “great entertaine­r” and touted the low unemployme­nt rate.

“The chance he doesn’t get a second term in my view is zero,” he said. “And I’ll tell you why. I don’t recall in modern times when going into a second term at full employment, the incumbent of any party has ever lost their mandate ever.”

I’M NOT PRO OR CON ANYBODY.

I’M JUST SAYING, I’M AN

INVESTOR.

 ??  ?? Kevin O’leary
Kevin O’leary

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