If presidential politics have taught us anything over the years, it’s that the American public should be ready to expect the unexpected. Viable political candidates can come from any walk of life, and lifelong, veteran politicians don’t have as clear a path to our nation’s highest seat as once might have been the case. So when a celebrity like Howard Stern takes to the airwaves and announces a possible consideration to run for President of the United States, what sounds like a joke has to actually be considered a tangible possibility.
Howard Stern was speaking to his audience on his popular Sirius XM radio program when, via The Hill, the 68-year-old shock jock began talking seriously about the things that he would do if he were to run for President and win. Stern and Alec Baldwin have discussed presidential campaigns before, and the radio host went long with Jon Stewart about the impact The Daily Show had on the current political landscape. So stern thinks about these things, and talks about them on the air. As he says, his current goals, if he were to run for president, would included eliminating the Electoral College, adding more Supreme Court justices, and making “the country fair again.”
As Howard Stern explained on this radio program:
I’m actually going to probably have to run for president now. … These appointed judges by [former President] Trump were appointed by a president who lost the popular vote by 3 million votes. This is where we get into trouble. I am going to do the very simple thing that’ll set the country straight: one vote, one person. No more Electoral College. I’m getting rid of it.
Now, this could just be Howard Stern talking to keep his ratings up, or maintain a foothold in the headlines. Then again, Sirius XM doesn’t really operate on a ratings system, and Howard Stern has made more than enough money broadcasting to supply multiple generations, even after he walked away from America’s Got Talent. So when Stern speaks this way about his dissatisfaction with the political realm, he appears to be speaking from the heart.
Continuing to explain what he would do if elected President of the United States, Howard Stern turned his attentions to the Supreme Court, stating:
The other thing is, if I do run for president — and I’m not fucking around, I’m really thinking about it — because the only other thing I’m going to do is appoint five more Supreme Court justices. … I’m not afraid to do it. As soon as I become president, you’re gonna get five new Supreme Court justices that are going to overturn all this bullshit.
This is not Howard Stern’s first flirtation with politics on a large scale. The radio personality ran for governor in New York State in 1994 before dropping out of the race when the state’s court demanded he release his financials. And back when he was promoting his most recent book, Stern talked at length about being willing to run for President in 2024 if it meant keeping former U.S. President Donald Trump out of office.
Mind you, this is not the wildest thing to be said on the airwaves of The Howard Stern Show. L.A. Lakers legend Magic Johnson spoke about wanting to hit Stern over controversial comments. The radio host has had to apologize over the years for wearing blackface in a 1990s video, and even apologized to fellow talk show host Wendy Williams following a NSFW rant he leveled at her. But again, when Stern speaks, there’s usually truth at the heart of what he is saying, so this sounds like a story that will be worth tracking.
