Rock star Bono said Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has the potential to be “the worst idea that ever happened to America.”
“America is like the best idea the world ever came up with, but Donald Trump is potentially the worst idea that ever happened to America,” he told CBS’s Charlie Rose. “He could destroy it.”
“America is not just a country,” Bono continued in the interview that aired Tuesday on “This Morning.” “America is an idea and that idea is bound up in justice and equality for all.”
The philanthropist and activist, who was in New York for the meeting of the United National General Assembly, called Trump’s rise to prominence within the GOP “really dangerous.”
“I think he’s highjacked the party, and I think he’s trying to highjack the idea of America and I think it’s bigger than all of us. This is really dangerous,” he said.
However, Bono did validate the concerns of Trump supporters frustrated with the status quo of the two leading political parties.
“I would not diminish Trump supporters or underestimate their angst because I feel that in a way they have correctly assessed that the center parties haven’t yet become clear,” he said. “Their angst is real and genuine.”
The Irish musician declined to tell Americans how to vote, but said whatever voters decide will have global implications.
“There are very real problems facing not just America, facing Europe,” he said. “I’m Irish. I don’t have a vote, and I can’t be telling people how to vote. And I don’t want to, but I have a voice and I can say who sits in that office affects everyone in this world.”