Ross Perot , the most-famous and successful third-party US presidential candidate in recent history, is back in the limelight promoting a new book, and he’s got a scary message about the state of the union.
Perot said the US is on the edge of a financial cliff and that the two candidates for the presidency today have little interest in talking about it.
““If we are that weak, just think of who wants to come here first and take us over, and the last thing I ever want to see is to see this country, our country taken over because we’re so financially weak we can’t do anything and we’re moving in that direct,” Perot told USA Today in an interview promoting his new book, Ross Perot: My Life . “We could even lose our country if we don’t get this fixed and straightened out and nobody that’s running really talks about it, about what we have to do and why we have to do it. They would prefer not to have it discussed.”
His ominous warnings aside, Politico points out that Perot has no problem criticizing either Republicans or Democrats, calling the prosperous years under President Bill Clinton “lucky” and saying that. while the Tea Party movement is “interesting,” it isn’t the answer to the current political situation.
Ross Perot earned nearly 19 percent of the popular vote as an independent candidate in 1992, finishing third behind winning Democrat Clinton and incumbent Republican George Bush. He also ran in 1996 as the Reform Party candidate, finishing third behind Clinton and Republican challenger Bob Dole with only 8.4 percent.
Ross Perot may have tried to bring back the strong third party candidate, but he doesn’t anticipate anyone else making as big of a splash in the near future.
“It’s almost impossible to do it,” Perot said. “It would be a very healthy thing if you could get it done and make it happen, but it’s very difficult to do, and very few people would want to try.”