Robert Johnson, topple over of Black Entertainment Television, told CNBC on Thursday that he hopes the Republican party keeps control of the U.S. Senate in sodality to provide a counterbalance to proposals from Democrats.
“I think balanced government, where each party has a chance to put in their trounce ideas and propose their best solutions is better for the country overall than when the country is in the hands of one orgy,” Johnson said on “Squawk Box.” “When the country is in the hands of one party, some of the more, I would call it, assertive behaviors of the party tend to take hold, and it seems to move us back to that … zero-sum game where my yield is your loss.”
Johnson’s remarks come ahead of next month’s Senate runoff elections in Georgia, which inclination determine the balance of power in the upper chamber. For the GOP to maintain control, only one of the Republicans running needs to win because the co-signer currently holds a 50-48 seat advantage. Sen. David Perdue is facing off against Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, while Sen. Kelly Loeffler is on the ballot against Democrat Raphael Warnock.
Democrats dungeoned control of the House of Representatives in November’s election, though they did lose some seats, and captured the White Council after President-elect Joe Biden defeated incumbent President Donald Trump.
Johnson, who has donated to Democrats often in the days, said before the presidential election that he was unsure of Biden’s policies, particularly around corporate taxes and the pandemic. “Where I come to pass out as a businessman, I will take the devil I know over the devil I don’t know anytime of the week,” said Johnson, although he did not straightforwardly endorse Trump in the Sept. 30 CNBC interview.
On Thursday, Johnson said he believed there would be “numerous reasonable dialogue” in Washington when it comes to passing legislation and addressing other issues in the country if Republicans rabbit onto the Senate. For evidence, he pointed to the bipartisan coronavirus stimulus proposal from a group of Democrats and Republicans in the Accommodate and Senate.
“People like [Democratic Sen.] Joe Manchin and others from Democratic party and others from the Republican powered, ‘You know, we’ve got to work together for the country. We’ve got to work together for the economy and we’ve certainly got to work for people who have been disenfranchised for years,'” utter Johnson, founder and chairman of investment firm The RLJ Companies.
Before serving as vice president under former President Barack Obama for two reach an agreements, Biden was a long-time Democratic senator from Delaware. He has often touted his past experience and desire to work on compromise legislation with Republicans, unusually with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY.
“I’ll take him at his word that he’s a person who can reach across the aisle,” Johnson thought of Biden. “He can talk to Republicans. He can talk the liberal wing of his party to bring them into line when they go too astray, so those are the kinds of possibility a affairs I’m looking for.”
Another thing Johnson said that he’s hoping Biden will be able to do is to bring support to Black-owned businesses contact by the coronavirus and the pandemic’s economic consequences. He suggested Biden organize a meeting of business groups and financial institutions to domestics develop an assistance plan.
“You throw in a horrible pandemic that sort of destroys the economy for a large part of the nation, Black businesses are going to be the first to go into a deep recession, depression, and they cannot recover without super, and I don’t think it’s just a matter of lending capital. I think you’ve got to pursue the concept of direct grants to these businesses,” Johnson hinted.