--- description: President Barack Obama thinks he would have enjoyed campaigning against Donald Trump, the president said in an interview published in GQ title: Obama Says Campaigning Against Trump Would Have Been 'Fun' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [White House](/tag/white-house/) ## White House Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Obama Says Campaigning Against Trump Would Have Been 'Fun'  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Nov 17, 2015 3:29 PM CUT  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Nov 17, 2015 3:29 PM CUT President Barack Obama thinks he would have enjoyed campaigning against Donald Trump, according to an [interview](http://www.gq.com/story/president-obama-bill-simmons-interview-gq-men-of-the-year "undefined") published in _GQ_ Tuesday. “That would’ve been fun,” Obama told HBO’s Bill Simmons, formerly of Grantland. Obama discussed a wide range of topics in the interview, from the 2008 election to living in a house with two teenage girls. Much of the conversation centered around sports. Obama said he would be interested in owning an NBA team but declined to delve too deep into a conversation about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. In another segment of the interview, Obama identified the few people whose calls he would answer during a date night with Michelle. National Security Advisor Susan Rice and White House chief of staff Denis McDonough both make the cut, as do his daughters. His mother-in-law received a “maybe.” [Read the full interview at _GQ_](http://www.gq.com/story/president-obama-bill-simmons-interview-gq-men-of-the-year "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4116024/president-obama-donald-trump-bill-simmons-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4116024/president-obama-donald-trump-bill-simmons-interview/"},"headline":"Obama Says Campaigning Against Trump Would Have Been 'Fun'","datePublished":"2015-11-17T15:29:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:41:23.872Z","description":"\"That would’ve been fun\"","url":"https://time.com/4116024/president-obama-donald-trump-bill-simmons-interview/","keywords":["White House","2016 Election topic","Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4116024/president-obama-donald-trump-bill-simmons-interview/","name":"Obama Says Campaigning Against Trump Would Have Been 'Fun'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump","description":"Donald Trump's Most Ridiculous Quotes","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7MzTpVq2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-23T21:38:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7MzTpVq2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4116024/president-obama-donald-trump-bill-simmons-interview/","duration":"PT1M21S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4116024/president-obama-donald-trump-bill-simmons-interview/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```