Why Donald Trump Could Make Will Smith Run For President

Will Smith announced that he could run for president in 2020, and Donald Trump is forcing his hand. The rapper/actor may have been joking, but his bid could be much more serious than Kanye West’s previous announcement that he would run for president in the next elections. The question many have is why Trump has suddenly made the rapper-turned-actor make this decision.

It all comes from the talk about the wall and the ongoing discrimination against Muslims. Trump is no stranger to controversy, but his recent antics have riled up a lot of people. The problem for those against him is that there are plenty of people who support his views in light of the recent terror attacks. While Canada and Scotland have opened their doors to Syrian refugees, most American states made it clear that refugees certainly were not welcome after the Paris attacks on November 13, when 130 people died.

Fox 32 reports that Smith talked about becoming the country’s commander-in-chief if the current candidates do not stop saying the “crazy kind of stuff” they have recently been saying. He was initially asked if being forced into the political arena meant running for something local, but he made it clear that he was definitely considering a presidential campaign. He rhetorically asked his interviewer “what else would I run for?”

“If people… keep saying all the crazy kind of stuff they’ve been saying on the news, lately, about walls and Muslims, they’re going to force me into the political arena.”

The actor has decided that being one of Hollywood’s biggest stars is not enough for him, according to Us Magazine. He needs to do something more, and it seems that politics is the thing to do. However, he has held back until now, and his comments have come as a— possibly pleasant — surprise to many. Although this is definitely not the first time he has talked about a career in politics. He has mentioned in the past how he is a climber and not a camper, and politics is something he could consider.

Trump is not the only reason Smith is considering entering into the political field, but he is the main one. He has been the one in the news for most of his controversial comments regarding Muslims. Just recently, he talked about not allowing any Muslims into the country, and even mentioned camps for those currently in the country. Some people likened him to Adolf Hitler, who persecuted Jews because of their religion, putting them in concentration camps during World War II.

Smith is not the only person disgusted with the businessman’s comments. Scotland made the decision to revoke his honorary degree from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon removed him as business ambassador. It came as a shock to Trump, who had recently invested £200m into a golf and leisure course. Angry at the decision, he said that Scotland should have discussed this with him before he invested.

The U.K. public has also become annoyed at Trump’s comments about how dangerous London is due to its Muslim population. Within 24 hours, a petition calling to ban him from the country had been started, 200,000 people had signed it, and the system had crashed. It has since reached over 400,000 signatures. The 200,000 mark is the benchmark needed for the debate to happen in Parliament.

How horrible. Voldemort was nowhere near as bad. https://t.co/hFO0XmOpPH

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 8, 2015

It also appears that Smith is not the only celebrity whose ire Trump has raised. British author J.K. Rowling took to Twitter recently to share that even Lord Voldermort was not as bad as Trump. Matt Damon, George Takei, and Jennifer Lawrence have also spoken out against him, but none of them have said that they would like to run for president in 2020.

“I’m a climber, so if I see a mountain, I have to climb it. I’m not a camper; I don’t like hanging in one place too long. So I think, at this point, I’m elevating my ability to be useful in the world.”

So far, it is unclear whether Smith’s comments about running for presidency are true. It is clear that he — among many other celebrities — is just fed up of hearing “crazy kind of stuff” from Trump’s mouth, and it is making him consider his options.

[Featured photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images]