Jamie Dimon bashes partisan politics in presidential election op-ed

JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon recently shared his strong views on what the next United States president needs to do in order to rescue the nation from what he called “the most complicated geopolitical situation since World War II.” 

His commentary came in the form of an op-ed published in the Washington Post on Aug. 2 and, by and large, his opinions centered on squashing the internal beef between US politicians of rival parties and the citizens who support them.

Instead of perpetuating political tribalism, Dimon says the next president should focus on the important issues of righting the economy, securing US borders, and “renewing national pride by unabashedly teaching civics and American exceptionalism without papering over our mistakes.”

Pro-business

While the article’s message was unabashedly political, it was also rife with pro-business undertones. In solving the country’s problem, Dimon sees politicians meeting both their rivals and members of the business community more than halfway:

“The private sector has huge wells of expertise and produces 85 percent of our nation’s jobs. It should have a seat at the table. Yet in recent years, government leaders have often failed to engage those in industry. A president should put the most talented people, including those from business and the opposite party, into their Cabinet.”

It’s hard to imagine a modern US president appointing a political rival from the opposition party to a cabinet position. But the idea of a rival businessperson getting a spot in a president’s cabinet didn’t seem so strange in mid-June when Donald Trump reportedly told a Bloomberg reporter that he’d be willing to consider Dimon for Secretary of the Treasury.

Trump later denied the report saying that he’d never considered Dimon for the position.

It seems unlikely, in the wake of Dimon’s WaPo op-ed, that the JPMorgan CEO would have taken the job if offered. After citing the bipartisan, multi-year effort to restore the city of Detroit as an example of what US politicians can accomplish when they work together, Dimon ended his essay with a call for unity.

“Recognize that voters are all different and have good reasons to think differently. Do not insult, stereotype, weaponize, scapegoat or gaslight. And do not attack them. Engage them.”

This seemingly sound advice may ring hollow to those in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency communities given Dimon’s history of antagonistic rhetoric towards the technology and those who support it.