Willie Nelson on Running for President: ‘I Came Close a Couple Times’
Willie Nelson has been a longtime leader in the world of music, so why not move into the position of leader of the free world? In a new interview, the country legend opens up about pondering a run for president.
Nelson had sold plenty of "Willie Nelson for President" merchandise for fun, admitting that he's had people encourage him to apply for the position, and even considered running for the Oval Office. "Oh, yeah, which makes me even more glad that I didn't. I came close a couple times. And then I sobered up," Nelson tells Rolling Stone about his thoughts on running for the presidency.
While the superstar will have another chance to consider running in 2020, he says the power of music can have more influence in impacting the world than politics and debates.
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"I think you can do more with music than you can with arguments and politics. I think a song will reach more people than any other thing," he explains. "There's a reason that it's called 'harmony.' When you play a show, there's an energy exchange with the people that is unimaginable. It's the reason I go out there. I get something out of it too."
Nelson — who is a longtime advocate for the legalization of marijuana and even owns his own line of weed — also responded to a comment from U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the interview about U.S. marijuana laws, with Sessions claiming the drug is “only slightly less awful” than heroin.
The 84-year-old country legend's current album, God’s Problem Child, was released in April of 2017 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard US Country Albums chart, in addition to claiming the No. 10 spot on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart.
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