Al Sharpton: Trump not running to win

Al Sharpton

Al Sharpton sent out a harsh message about businessman Donald Trump, saying the billionaire may be running for president, but it doesn't appear he's really trying to win.

Sharpton also admitted in an interview with the Washington Post that his own run for the White House years ago wasn't about winning, but rather about advancing his own personal causes.

"When you run for president, in my opinion, you run either to win or you run to further a cause," Sharpton said, the Washington Post reported. "I ran [in 2004] to further a cause. ... [and issues] we wanted to raise like criminal justice and all were not going to be in the center stage if we didn't have a candidate."

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Sharpton then called Trump little more than a lounge act who suddenly finds himself on the main stage, the newspaper reported.

The Washington Post reported Sharpton's remarks: "Donald Trump is not running to win or [for] a cause. He was the cause that furthered the branding and popularity of him and his businesses. So when you have somebody that does not have to, in any way, monitor or tailor what he's doing based on gauging a win or gauging does it hurt a cause, you end up with 'anything goes.' And 'anything goes' has worked for him because he's been basically a business slash celebrity slash cultural figure. What he does not understand is that does not apply in the political mainstream. What plays at Lincoln Center don’t play at the Apollo. And I think that he is an Apollo act in Lincoln Center. I think that what worked in his tabloid, playing the New York celebrity thing does not work when you’re on a serious thing.

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