If you believe a flurry of recent headlines, a hopeful Facebook fan page, and a general surge of media speculation, you might think Rep. Seth Moulton is running for president.
Despite the swirling rumors (it’s still early!), Moulton has a different answer.
If the 38-year-old congressman’s use of the phrase “I am not running for president” five times in one interview is any indication, Moulton isn’t looking for a position in a higher office anytime soon.
“I’m just being honest — I’m not running for president,” Moulton said during an interview with Boston Public Radio Wednesday. “There are a lot of things I am focused on, I’m focused on the work that we have to do in the district, and I don’t want people to lose sight of that.”
During a recent visit to a local defense contractor, Moulton said he opened the floor up to questions after a brief speech.
“There was silence, and then one young woman raised her hand and asked, ‘who are you?’” Moulton said. “That doesn’t sound like a presidential candidate.”
Moulton began to gain national attention in huge part because of his brazen criticism of President Donald Trump, which he says won’t stop anytime soon.
“The president we have is a danger to our country, and I have been one of his most outspoken critics from the very beginning,” Moulton said. “Even though I am someone who really believes in bipartisanship, I think Donald Trump is uniquely dangerous to our nation, so I’m going to keep that up.”
President Trump’s foreign policy tactics have come under fire after Trump invited controversial Philippine President to the White House and said he would be “honored” to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who he referred to as a “smart cookie.”
“Don’t say that this is anything inconsistent with who Donald Trump is as a person … these are really the folks that Donald Trump seems to admire,” Moulton said. “The terms under which you have a meeting matter. The language that you use matters. We ought to care whether our president admires dictators.”
Though Moulton has yet to meet President Trump, he says he would be willing to sit down for a meeting — under the right context.
“I would be willing to sit down with the president if he actually wanted to talk about some of the priorities he talked about on the campaign trail, like infrastructure or like building the middle class,” Moulton said. “I have no interest in having a discussion with him that’s going to be unproductive, but if there’s something that we could actually do to further the interests of the American people, then I would do that.”
In the meantime, Moulton says he’s open to trying to work across the aisle. The Modernizing Government Travel Act, a bipartisan effort led by Moulton and Republican Rep. Will Hurd of Texas to reimburse federal employees for ride-share and bike-share services, has made its way to the president’s desk today — which Moulton says gives him hope.
“Just the fact that we’ve got this bill sitting on his desk today shows that despite the polarization and partisanship in Washington today, there is still hope for progress,” Moulton said. “There is still work that we can do if we’re willing to work across the aisle.”
To hear Rep. Seth Moulton’s full interview with Boston Public Radio, click on the audio player above.
