JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Prominent right-leaning talk show host Clay Travis named Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a potential candidate Democrats could enlist in 2028.
This came on the August 20th episode of “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show”.
Recommended Videos
Following a lengthy conversation on political difficulties for Democrats (who he frequently criticizes) Travis said: “I think there will be other people. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Mark Cuban. I’m not signing onto any of these guys but I think a lot of people will believe that they can be the Democrat version of Trump.”
@goingringside Now #claytravis has mentioned #therock #dwaynejohnson as a possible Pres candidate for Dems in 2028 #goingringside #WWE @Clay Travis
♬ original sound - Going Ringside
Going Ringside has done detailed analysis of Johnson’s flirtation with politics here and here.
It really started in 2017:
More Poise, Less Noise
Following the round of initial articles, Johnson made a few statements that seemed very intriguing on both Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
First, the SNL monologue in 2017 was Johnson’s fifth time hosting the comedy show. He was joined on stage by Alec Baldwin and Tom Hanks.
Toward the end of the monologue, Johnson was on stage joking with Hanks about the possibility of running for President when he inserted this line: “More poise, less noise”. The line seemed out of place in the monologue and sounded like a scripted campaign slogan. It obviously was playing up on the political discord in the country at that time.
But the line would quickly pop up again. Johnson joined Jimmy Fallon around this time and repeated the same line: “More poise, less noise” when discussing a potential Presidential run. It sounded a lot more like a planned political catch phrase than a comedic one.
‘Young Rock’ Debuts
In February 2021, NBC debuted a new sitcom, “Young Rock”. The family sitcom chronicles Johnson’s life in three separate stages: Young childhood, teenage years and as a young adult getting into wrestling.
The premise of the show is that he’s telling these old stories to a reporter in the year 2032 when he’s running for President. The show has run for three seasons and continues to be a success for NBC.
It’s unclear if the premise for the show is just based on the news stories about Johnson or if there’s a subtle hint that he’s taking a potential Presidential run seriously.
Quite recently, Johnson did say he’s seriously considered a run.
In an interview from 2022, Johnson said, “I have seriously considered it. You have to. When you start looking at some of these polls, and these numbers creep up into the 46%, 50% of the country would vote for me should I run, and I have been – I’ve been really moved by that.”