Donald Trump is stunningly vindictive, says Richard Branson
Technically Incorrect: The Virgin Galactic founder shares a story of lunch with the Republican nominee. He says he found it disturbing.
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.
It's almost over, but the presidential election campaign still offers twitching spasms.
A nasty speech here, some bitter name-calling there, and the cast of "Mean Girls" recoils in horror.
Republican nominee Donald Trump has managed to polarize opinion even more than his opponent. The peculiar thing is that even fellow entrepreneurs seem set against him.
On Friday, the founder of Virgin Galactic and so many other Virgin brands, Richard Branson, took to his company's website to excoriate Trump.
Richard Branson would rather not see a Trump presidency.
He said that some years ago he had lunch with the self-styled billionaire. He said he found the experience "disturbing."
"Even before the starters arrived," said Branson, "he began telling me about how he had asked a number of people for help after his latest bankruptcy and how five of them were unwilling to help."
I've generally found in life that people can be startlingly unhelpful. Branson said Trump found such lack of support deeply hurtful.
"He told me he was going to spend the rest of his life destroying these five people," said Branson.
The Trump campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Branson said Trump was obsessed with this need for his enemies' destruction. Perhaps Trump thinks of it as ethical cleansing.
"I told him I didn't think it was the best way of spending his life. I said it was going to eat him up, and do more damage to him than them," Branson said, adding that he hoped his advice didn't lead to Trump deciding to run.
Branson concluded that Trump isn't fit to be president.
"For somebody who is running to be the leader of the free world to be so wrapped up in himself, rather than concerned with global issues, is very worrying," he said.
This isn't the first time Branson has spoken out publicly against Trump.
I fear, though, that if what he says about Trump borders on accuracy, Branson might become another to be subjected to a classic Trump tweet, complete with exclamation point, very soon.