Kristin Barlowe/Sunshine SachsAfter hosting Saturday Night Live last weekend and competing in the Republican debate last night in Milwaukee, Donald Trump has clocked plenty of time in the national media spotlight lately. And one person who knows something about sharing that spotlight with the billionaire-turned-presidential contender is Trace Adkins, having worked for him in two seasons of Celebrity Apprentice.
Trace lost the title in 2008 to Piers Morgan, before emerging victorious in the 2013 All-Star season. Still, the country star thinks it’s funny folks often assume he has the inside track on Trump’s campaign.
“People ask me all the time, ‘What’s up with Trump?’ like I know, like he calls me, you know, asking me what I think. But he doesn’t,” he laughs. “I think we’re in a very serious place in the history of this country and we need to take it pretty seriously and I think he does. But I don’t think anybody else takes him seriously, so he’s having to deal with that.”
The “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” hitmaker believes one of the reasons Trump has done so well early on is because he’s not afraid to speak his mind.
“We’re not used to politicians talking like that, answering questions with, you know, their actual feelings and what they actually think about something, you know it’s just foreign to us. We don’t hear politicians talk like that,” he observes.
But Trace also points out it’s easy to say whatever you want when you have Trump’s financial security.
“It’s nice to be in a place in your life where you can say whatever you want to say and not have to worry about what anybody thinks about it, because he’s got a pretty good retirement plan,” he jokes. “So he can go out and say whatever he wants to say and doesn’t worry. He doesn’t care what anybody else thinks about it, you know. Must be a beautiful place to be!”
In the end, Trace believes it might not be a bad thing to have someone with Trump’s financial expertise in the White House.
“I think we ought to try a businessman running the show for awhile. I mean, nothing else has worked,” he adds candidly. “The whole thing has just gotten — I mean, it’s just really hard to take any of it seriously right now. It’s just so crazy, just the way this whole campaign in all respects has just gotten a little silly from time to time.”
NBC, by the way, has replaced Trump on Celebrity Apprentice with former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Tonight, Trace plays the Vets Rock 2015 concert at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
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