Frank VanderSloot opens up on Rubio, Trump, Idaho's primary and his passion for politics

Melaleuca CEO Frank L. VanderSloot announced in November that he is endorsing Republican Marco Rubio for president.

VanderSloot was one of the first major donors to pledge his support for the Florida senator and has publicly said he will raise millions of dollars in bundled donations for the candidate.

VanderSloot sat down with EastIdahoNews.com reporter Nate Eaton to discuss why he’s backing Rubio, his thoughts about Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, the other candidates running and why he’s so passionate about politics.

Here’s a transcript of the interview.

Nate Eaton, EastIdahoNews.com reporter: You were one of the first people to come out and endorse Marco Rubio back before Thanksgiving. Some people may have thought you were a little early. What are your thoughts today?

Frank VanderSloot, Melaleuca CEO: I think he’s doing really well and I think he’s going to be the candidate and the President of the United States. I surely hope so. We need him.

We were the first, one of the very first, to come out and endorse him while everybody else was sitting on the sidelines waiting to see who was going to take the lead because they wanted to bet on the winner. I think that’s inherently dangerous. You wait around to see who’s going to win and you might get the wrong outfit.

Which is, by the way, what I think we’ve got with Donald Trump. I think he’s dangerous. There’s good documentation on Donald Trump that he doesn’t keep his promises. Four bankruptcies – pretty good proof you don’t keep your promises. Really good proof. You have a contract where you say you provide this loan and I will pay you. It doesn’t say unless things get tough and if things get tough then I won’t.

I don’t know very many people who have filed a single bankruptcy. I know a lot of men with integrity who could have filed for bankruptcy, but didn’t because they made promises.

Here’s a man who will make a promise and then say, ‘I’m a billionaire – I don’t care if you lay off people and I don’t care if it destroys your company. I’m not paying because I’m a little low on funds right now.’

Eaton: What is it about him that’s relating to the public? Why does he have such high numbers?

VanderSloot: I think he’s full of baloney. I think he’s a star. He’s full of sound bites and people are angry. He’s angry and he says exactly what they want to hear.

They don’t think things through well. If you look at people who are following him, they are not the high intellect folks. If you go through the demographics on the folks who love Donald Trump, it’s the people who love sound bites and haven’t necessarily thought things through really well.

But I even think those people, once they start thinking about what they’re doing and think about what kind of country we’d end up with if Donald Trump was president, (they will realize) they don’t want that kind of president. Honestly you don’t know what he’s going to do. He’ll promise anything and break his promise.

When you file four bankruptcies, it’s documentation that either you’re a bad visionary or you’re a bad manager. You’ve really mismanaged things or you’re just really bad with decisions.

Here’s the game that Donald Trump is playing and anybody could win at this game. The game is – I bet wild and I bet big. If I win, I take my winnings. If I lose, I don’t pay.

You could take that to Vegas and if they let you pay like that, anybody could be a billionaire with that kind of a tactic. He’s learned how to use the bankruptcy stuff to his advantage, but that doesn’t mean he’s a good businessman.

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