Mike Rowe, famed as TV’s “dirty jobs” expert, is reacting to an offer of what just could be his dirtiest job yet. But is this one a step too far, even for Rowe?
The host of the reality TV show “Dirty Jobs” joined CNN on Thursday to confirm that he found out that he is being considered as a vice presidential running mate by independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Rowe joked that it’s a “weird world.”
“It’s a weird world, man,” Rowe quipped, “I mean — you’re walking through an airport and you’re minding your own business when you look up and there you are with a wrestler and a motivational speaker, and a star athlete,” he said chuckling about seeing his photo on CNN as one among several of those who were being considered to run as Kennedy’s VP.
“Yeah, he called. Actually, I ran into him about six months ago in Dallas, totally serendipitously, and we exchanged information and he reached out about a month ago,” Row said, according to the New York Post.
Rowe didn’t just hear about it second-hand, either. He also confirmed that he actually had a meeting with RFK Jr.
Kennedy was reportedly interested in hearing more about Rowe’s charitable work and his mikeroweWORKS foundation, and about vocational training for American youth.
“At some point, he asked me if I would ever consider running for public office, and I spit my coffee back into my cup and I said, ‘Seriously?’” Rowe said.
But he also noted that their conversation was a “serious conversation” and that it was a “gratifying” one, as well.
“For the first time in my life I found myself having, kind of a really serious conversation about what that even means,” he said of the discussion about the VP slot. “It was not expected, but ultimately, really kind of gratifying.”
“…he asked me if I’d ever consider running for public office, and I spit my coffee back into my cup and said, ‘Seriously?’”
TV host Mike Rowe tells OutFront about being on RFK Jr.’s VP list pic.twitter.com/lqaWs60lJ8
— Erin Burnett OutFront (@OutFrontCNN) March 15, 2024
Rowe added that Kennedy is “very gracious” and “very smart” and also “very direct.
“I had no idea what I was walking into,” Rowe continued, “but his team was there, and they were also super inquisitive. They listened more than they talked.”
“It was a very friendly, very casual conversation, but he’s serious. And when he talks about the things he’s serious about, he leans in,” Rowe explained. “And it’s hard not to listen.
“He’s serious about the debt. He doesn’t want to see $34 trillion get to 50. He believes if it does, the country can’t service it, party’s over,” Rowe said of their conversation.
“He’s serious about ending forever wars, he’s serious about waging a war, really, on chronic disease, and diabetes, and things like that,” Rowed continued. “We don’t agree on everything, that’s for sure. And when that became apparent, he just laughed and said, ‘Look, I don’t want to surround myself with yes men and yes women. I want people who care about the country, I want people who’ll tell me the truth as they see it, and let the chips fall.’”
“He said a lot of stuff that was good to hear, frankly,” Rowe said.
The TV host also spoke to what qualifies someone to be “qualified” to be vice president?
Does RFK have a chance at the White House?
“But what really qualifies a man or woman to run for president or vice president?” he asked rhetorically. “I think you gotta be 35, I think you need to have been born in this country. After that, I don’t know about qualifications. I guess we could talk experience, and judgment, and temperament, and all of those other things, and everybody gets to weigh and measure everybody, and put it all under a microscope and decide.”
Rowe is exactly right, of course. The U.S. Constitution only requires someone to be 35 and born as a natural citizen of this country to run for president or vice president. Our founders did not want the country restricted from searching far and wide for our leaders, and they for sure didn’t want our chief executives to have to be from any professional political class.
Mike Rowe would make a fine vice president. And why shouldn’t he?
