Donald Trump will have to “make America great again” without Ronda Rousey’s vote.
The undefeated UFC bantamweight champ’s name came up during yet another TV interview between CNN’s Chris Cuomo and Donald Trump, who has practically become Cuomo’s co-host in recent weeks.
Yesterday, Cuomo asked the GOP presidential hopeful who is leading all the current polls how he felt about women serving in front-line combat roles, especially given that two females have recently graduated the rigorous U.S. Army Ranger’s school.
Including a reference to Ronda Rousey, the billionaire real estate mogul and ex-reality TV show star expressed qualified support for female soldiers in combat situations, that is, provided the military decision making can be separated from political correctness.
“I guess the answer is yes, because they’re really into it. Some of them are really, really good. I would also speak with the generals… because I want to hear the truth. To the public, they say yes, yes, yes, but I would want to hear without a political bent. I’ll tell you what, I know some women that are just — Ronda Rousey is an example, who likes me… I’d take her on my side as a fighter.”
In a separate interview on CNN in late July, in which the interviewer inexplicably asked her about presidential politics when he compared it to an MMA fight, a somewhat uncomfortable Ronda Rousey made it clear she’s not throwing her support to Donald Trump for president in 2016, however.
“I mean, I wouldn’t vote for him. I just really wouldn’t trust the guy with running my country, that’s all. I’m not really going to get into specifics of it, but, I mean, I don’t want a reality TV star to be running my country.”
Rousey defeated Bethe Correia in 34 seconds on August 1 at UFC 190 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and there is speculation that her next major bout may be with Cris “Cyborg” Justino. Rousey now has a 12-0 record in UFC. She dedicated the fight to Rowdy Roddy Piper, the recently deceased WWE star, with whom she shared a nickname.
The Donald Trump question is not the first time that a journalist tried to draw Rousey into the realm of politics. Apparently occurring shortly before the Correia fight, a Yahoo! interviewer asked the MMA champ if she was angry that a boxer like Floyd Mayweather makes roughly one hundred times more than she does for a professional bout.
“I don’t like to talk about exactly how much money I make, but I’m extremely comfortable and happy…If I had almost 50 fights, I’d probably be making close to the same amount of money as Floyd does. But at this point, I have eleven. I can’t expect it to be exactly equal yet, I don’t think. I have put more time in,” Ronda Rousey explained.
“Ronda just isn’t that into you, Donald. Sorry,” Fox Sports quipped about the presidential campaign takedown.
Do you think Ronda Rousey could — or should she — change her mind about voting for Donald Trump if he becomes the Republican presidential nominee?
[Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images Sport]