Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, claimed he thinks he could defeat President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, at an event at his bank’s headquarters, Dimon said, “I think I could beat Trump,” CNBC reports. “Because I’m as tough as he is, I’m smarter than he is. I would be fine. He could punch me all he wants, it wouldn’t work with me. I’d fight right back,” he added.
Dimon said that he didn’t think Trump would get elected: “I mean, I’ve said this before Trump was elected. You’re not going to get a wealthy New Yorker elected president. Boy, I was dead wrong.”
“And by the way, this wealthy New Yorker actually earned his money,” Dimon added. “It wasn’t a gift from Daddy. And I grew up in a poorer part of Queens than he did, but I am a banker. I am part of the elite.” Dimon went on to complain that the public does not look “at Trump as part of the elite,” instead, “They look at him as the upstart who punched the elite in the nose every day.”
He also added that while he could beat Trump, he couldn’t “beat the liberal side of the Democratic party.” He also remarked that the Democrat party needs to “get their act together in terms of understanding how society actually works.”
Dimon reportedly walked back the remarks an hour later, claiming, “I should not have said it. I’m not running for president.”
He said his remark “proves I wouldn’t make a good politician. I get frustrated because I want all sides to come together to help solve big problems.”
Dimon, a self-identified Democrat, once sat on Trump’s now-disbanded business council and reportedly supported its disbandment.
In July, Dimon claimed Trump “has done things which accelerated growth” for the economy. He also claimed Trump’s policies are positively impacting small businesses. “We’ve had less small business formation in America than in any other recovery,” Dimon continued. “This has accelerated the growth. It’s been 20 percent over 10 years; it should’ve been 40. The reason it wasn’t 40 is because of a lot of things that we did hurt ourselves.”
In January, Dimon walked back his claim that Trump would be a one-term president and warned Democrats “will not have a chance,” claiming “they don’t have a strong centrist, pro-business, pro-free enterprise person.” He also shrugged off the idea that he would run for president during the same interview.
