Virgin America CEO: Trump Could Defeat Hillary

Getty Images
Getty Images

Speaking in San Francisco Wednesday night, Virgin America CEO David Cush said he thought Donald Trump would defeat Hillary Clinton in a 2016 presidential race.

Asked which candidate would prevail, Cush answered, “What’s that? OK. I’m looking for the exit,” then continued, “I’m not going to give a one-word answer on this. I would say Trump.”

Cush explained, “The reason is that I think — I don’t know if the time is there yet — but I think we need a change in the way this whole political process works right now. The political establishment in Washington has a very difficult job. But I’ve become more disenchanted with career politicians.”

San Francisco is a comfortable place for Cush to speak; as he proudly acknowledged in 2010, “We are the only airline headquartered in California, SFO is our home.”

Cush also liked Michael Bloomberg, adding:

The fact that we’ve got people who have lived in the real world . . . who have done things and created things and had to compromise — that’s the big thing for me. In Washington, there’s an inability to compromise right now. Donald Trump’s all about compromise, because it’s negotiation — that’s all it is. It’s the same for Bloomberg or anyone else. It’s less about Donald, although I think that would be tremendously entertaining, and more about the fact that we need a little bit of a different mindset.

Cush said, “People really don’t care what I have to say about Trump vs. Hillary. I’m a huge Clinton fan, but I find the process that Trump has ignited very interesting.” He added that Trump is “tearing up” the rules for running for president.

Since it announced its IPO in November 2014, Virgin America has seen a medium-term annual growth rate of roughly 10%.

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