Wilbur Ross: Why I'm backing Donald Trump

Wilbur Ross: Why I’m backing Donald Trump    3:38 AM ET Wed, 15 June 2016 | 03:03

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Billionaire distressed asset investor Wilbur Ross has explained his reasons for backing Donald Trump to be the next U.S. president, highlighting the presumptive Republican nominee's lack of political correctness and attention to middle-class America.

"Part of the reason why I'm supporting Trump is that I think we need a more radical, new approach to government – at least in the U.S. – from what we've had before," Ross told CNBC on Wednesday.

"I think the reason why the Trump phenomenon has become so important … is because middle class and lower middle class America has not really benefited by the last 10 to 15 years of economic activity and they're sick and tired of it and they want something different."

He also said that this demographic was "sick and tired of political correctness," something that the outspoken Trump could never be accused of, having polarized U.S. voters with his divisive comments on women and minorities.

Campaign pitches are 'symbolic'

Kevin Winter | Getty Images

Ross said that Trump's approach to politics was refreshing. "His direction will be a less politically-correct direction," he said. "There is nothing in the direction that he is pointing that is different from the Republican platforms."

"You only get to vote for who's on the ballot paper and your choices are between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and I find that an easy choice to make," he said.

Ross conceded that Trump's pledge to wipe out $19 trillion of American debt in two terms – a claim made during an interview with the Washington Post in April – was somewhat fantastical, saying that some of Trump's math when it came to this economic ambition "probably doesn't work."

"If you add up all the promises any politicians makes, the math doesn't work. Hillary Clinton's math doesn't work, Donald's math probably doesn't work. I think you have to listen to their campaign pitches more as symbolic, more as metaphors."

'I believe in the two-party system'

Ross, who is the chairman and chief executive of private equity firm WL Ross & Co and renowned for buying distressed assets, told CNBC in March that he would vote for Donald Trump.

"Yeah, I believe in the two-party system," he replied in the CNBC "Squawk Box" interview. "And I think if you believe in [the] two-party system, you should vote for the nominee."

"I also think you're going to see a different Donald if and when he becomes the nominee," Ross said.

Trump and the Republican National Committee has previously announced that Wilbur Ross, among others, is on a list of "presidential trustees" overseeing a joint fundraising committee organized between Trump and the RNC.

Trump became the presumptive presidential nominee for the Republican Party after seeing off rivals during the U.S. Primaries but there are rumors circulating that many within the party are unhappy with the controversial business leader's nomination.

Trump has made a series of controversial comments throughout his campaign to become the GOP's nominee, from comparing Mexican immigrants to racists, to calling for a ban on all Muslims entering the U.S.

Most recently in early June, Trump caused a furor by saying that a federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, an American of Mexican heritage who is overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University, had a "conflict of interest" in the case because of his heritage and in light of Trump's comments about Mexicans.

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