Jamie Dimon: I’ll Help Trump Because I’m a Patriot

Jamie Dimon told a hostile crowd of shareholders Tuesday morning that he supports President Donald Trump out of a sense of patriotic duty.

“He is the president of the United States, he is the pilot flying the airplane. I’d try to help any president of the US because I’m a patriot. That does not mean I agree with every policy he is trying to implement,” the chairman and chief executive of J.P. Morgan Chase said at the bank’s annual meeting Tuesday in Wilmington, Delaware.

Dimon has compared the president to an airplane pilot in the past. “When you get on the airplane, you better be rooting for the success of the pilot,” Dimon said at a townhall event hosted by Yahoo Finance in April.

During the question and answer portion of the annual meeting, a number of shareholders called on Dimon to publicly disavow Trump and his policies, particularly Trump’s immigration stance. Dimon listened to several speeches from shareholders before he responded.

Dimon said that he agreed with Trump’s plans to reform the corporate tax system. “Our corporate tax system is driving capital and brains overseas and excessive regulation is reducing growth and business formation particularly for small businesses,” he said.

The chief executive also commented on bank regulation, saying that some of the rules put in place after the financial crisis went too far and should be pulled back.

“We are not looking to throw out the entirety of Dodd-Frank or other rules. It is, however, appropriate to open up the rulebook in the light of day and rework the rules and regulations that don’t work well or are unnecessary,” Dimon said.