BET founder won’t endorse Trump but says ‘I will take the devil I know’

The founder of BET did not endorse President Trump for reelection during an interview Wednesday but indicated he favors the president over Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Speaking with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Robert Johnson declined to endorse Trump when asked by the show’s host, though he argued the president’s record on the economy is more clear than Biden’s economic plan.

“Where I come out as a businessman, I will take the devil I know over the devil I don’t know any time of the week,” Johnson said. “I know what President Trump has done and what he’s said he will do. I don’t know what Vice President Biden has said he will do other than masks, listen to the scientists.”

“I would rather know who I’m going to deal with in the White House. I’m going to know what regulatory decisions they’re going to make, what fiscal policy decisions, what monetary policies they’re going to make than to be taking a chance, particularly when you have the turbulence of a pandemic,” he added in the interview.

Monetary policy is crafted by the independent Federal Reserve.

Biden in July unveiled a $700 billion spending plan aimed at revitalizing the U.S. manufacturing sector through new federal government procurement programs and investments in domestic research and development. His proposal aims to create 5 million new American jobs, in addition to bringing back the millions of jobs that have been lost over the past few months to the coronavirus lockdown.

Johnson’s remarks came a day after Trump and Biden met for the first presidential debate, a fiery affair that quickly devolved into frequent interruptions and personal attacks.

Johnson has previously criticized Biden and earlier this year called on him to “spend the rest of his campaign apologizing to every Black person he meets” after Biden told a radio host that “you ain’t Black” if you vote for Trump. Biden later apologized for the remark.