Billionaire and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson loves the idea of having an entrepreneur in the White House — as long as it’s not Donald Trump.
“He’s a very vindictive, rather dangerous, rather sad man,” said Branson during an interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle Tuesday morning. “I would feel very uncomfortable — very, very uncomfortable — with somebody like Donald Trump in the White House,” he told Ruhle, after she quizzed Branson on his recent blog post describing a business lunch many years ago when the two billionaires met for the first time.
“For almost the whole lunch he talked about his bankruptcies,” said the baffled Brit, who heads up several philanthropic initiatives that aim to improve the lives of African women, work towards global peace, end climate change, and support homeless youth.
“He could have been talking to me about interesting things in the world, entrepreneurship, how the world could be made better. It was one of the most extraordinary bizarre lunches I’ve ever had.”
Branson shot down any comparison between the two billionaires, saying Trump was “not a massively successful business person.”
“One bankruptcy can be forgiven,” scoffed Branson. “But two: very questionable. Three… most successful business people do not go through that kind of career.”
Lunch with Hillary Clinton was very different, noted the billionaire ballooner, saying that when he and the Democratic nominee had met, they discussed global warming, the death penalty, gun control, women’s rights, Iraq, and Iran.
“She was interested and it was a fascinating lunch,” he told Ruhle.
When Ruhle asked how Branson would react if Trump were to win the presidency, Branson said, “I’ve got an island, I’ll go hide out on that.”
NBC News has reached out to Donald Trump's spokespeople for comment.
