President Obama is on the cover of GQ‘s Men of the Year issue, and on the inside, he gets interviewed by Bill Simmons, the former editor-in-chief of the now-defunct Grantland website. The interview was conducted before the site shut down on October 31 (after Simmons was no longer editor). Simmons pays lip service to Obama busting his chops over leaving the publication.
The interview subjects run far and wide. Obama discusses how he promised to quit smoking once Obamacare passed, and he stuck to his word. He covers the big “American crisis moments,” including Ferguson and Sandy Hook, that have affected his administration. There’s plenty to unpack, including including Obama’s professed love for Game of Thrones during his trusty treadmill workouts. Obama identifies most with Peter Dinklage’s character, but he’s not too certain of the details:
“My favorite character is probably … the dwarf, what’s his name? The problem with Game of Thrones, though, is that I don’t remember the names of any of the characters … I remember the characters, so when I watch it, I know exactly what’s going on. But if you read a review of the show afterwards and they’re mentioning such and such, the only one I remember is Jon Snow, because I can pronounce Jon Snow.”
When asked which GoT character most resembled Donald Trump, Obama said, “Uh… I don’t think… I don’t think any of them rise to that level.” That’s some diplomatic shade right there. Obama admits campaigning against Trump would be “fun,” although he bristles when asked to choose between Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton as the better future administration. Now, what does Obama think about the existence of aliens?
“I gotta tell you, it’s a little disappointing. People always ask me about Roswell and the aliens and UFOs, and it turns out the stuff going on that’s top secret isn’t nearly as exciting as you expect. In this day and age, it’s not as top secret as you’d think.”
With the existence of Google Earth and the ubiquity of iPhones, all that top-secret stuff can barely hope to remain a secret. Internet users tend to find floating cities in the sky much more viral than a boring old UFO over Los Angeles, anyway. The full GQ interview is well worth your time.
(Via GQ)
