Operating on the theory that people have won the presidency—are, indeed, president right now—despite having far less charisma, enthusiasm, and all-around love of humanity than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson exhibits while brushing his teeth, the Fast And Furious star has indicated that leadership of the free world might someday be in his future. That’s one of many takeaways from a compulsively readable new profile of the 45-year-old grinning man mountain, courtesy of GQ’s Caity Weaver.
Besides detailing the fundamentally overwhelming experience of being in Johnson’s presence—“I’ve known the man for only two hours and already it’s apparent that I am Dwayne Johnson’s greatest friend in the entire world”—the article lays out why Johnson’s potential movement into politics isn’t such an implausible shift. There’s the fact that everybody likes him, of course—hence the whole “highest paid movie star in the world” thing—but also his unflagging energy, his wide and tested demographic appeal, and his apparently razor-sharp memory, all of which are pretty key pieces of the politician’s toolbox.
Johnson’s typically very cagey about his political beliefs beyond “I LOVE THE TROOPS”, but he did offer up his criticism of Trump’s Muslim ban, and his overall failures of leadership. He also said that he isn’t treating his political future as a lark: “I didn’t want to be flippant—‘We’ll have three days off for a weekend! No taxes!’” But when outright asked whether he thinks politics is in his future, he says: “I think that it’s a real possibility.”
If we’re going to continue to have celebrity presidents, and everything about the rise of Donald Trump suggests that we almost certainly are, there are presumably many worse options than the friendly, outgoing guy described in Weaver’s profile. After all, he’s a guy who not only seems to “love the world,” in the words of one of his frequent producers, but also has hands that “could comfortably lift an 8-year-old by the skull.” Where do we sign up?