--- ---  # John Boehner Is Happy He Dodged the Presidential Election: 'Thank God I'm Not in the Middle of This'  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Dec 7, 2016 8:18 PM UTC  John Boehner departs a press conference Dec. 12, 2013 in Washington, DC. John Boehner departs a press conference Dec. 12, 2013 in Washington, DC.Win McNamee—Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Dec 7, 2016 8:18 PM UTC [Former House Speaker John Boehner](http://time.com/4495045/john-boehner-reynolds-american-tobacco/) said in a [new interview](http://www.wcpo.com/longform/john-boehner-on-donald-trump-and-politics-thank-god-im-not-in-the-middle-of-this) that he’s thankful he dodged the spectacle that was the 2016 presidential election. Boehner officially [resigned](http://time.com/4049977/john-boehner-resigns/) from his post in late October, a few months after Donald Trump announced his run for the White House. He told Cincinnati’s WCPO in an exclusive interview that it was a good move. “Every day I’d watch it and was like, ‘Thank God I’m not in the middle of this,'” he said. “It was the most bizarre political year that we’ve seen in 100 years.” Boehner added that he doesn’t regret his decision to quit, even though the former Ohio lawmaker was emotional and wiped away tears during a news conference announcing his resignation. “There’s nothing I would change about when I left or how I left,” he told WCPO. \[[_WCPO_](http://www.wcpo.com/longform/john-boehner-on-donald-trump-and-politics-thank-god-im-not-in-the-middle-of-this)\] John Boehner Is Thankful He Dodged the Presidential Election ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4594332/john-boehner-presidential-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4594332/john-boehner-presidential-election/"},"headline":"John Boehner Is Happy He Dodged the Presidential Election: 'Thank God I'm Not in the Middle of This'","datePublished":"2016-12-07T20:18:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:29:39.335Z","description":"\"Every day I'd watch it and was like, 'Thank God I'm not in the middle of this'\"","url":"https://time.com/4594332/john-boehner-presidential-election/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5255db726670e084/6988b22dab6d771db86ac2ff/john-boehner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5255db726670e084/6988b22dab6d771db86ac2ff/john-boehner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Boehner Holds Media Briefing At The Capitol","caption":"John Boehner departs a press conference Dec. 12, 2013 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"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/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4594332/john-boehner-presidential-election/","name":"John Boehner Is Happy He Dodged the Presidential Election: 'Thank God I'm Not in the Middle of This'"}}]}] ```