Kevin Costner slammed as 'totally brain-dead' after criticizing the Trump administration, saying Michelle Obama should run for president
Kevin Costner was asked about living in Trump’s America in a recent interview — and he didn’t hold back from expressing his disappointment. The Highwaymen and Yellowstone star told Variety that the “political landscape” as it is “is unrecognizable” to him, adding, “Shame on us for being in that spot.”
While the Oscar winner said he thinks things could turn around “overnight” if Americans committed to it — “not because of a vote, but because people say, ‘I want to try to be more than about myself” — he doesn’t see it happening. After calling America “the greatest experiment in humankind,” he said that while people still want to come here,” we’re “not first in hardly anything that matters and we have an inflated idea about how we are. We exaggerate about what we are. We are everything that’s great and we are everything that’s human. And our humanness and our level of selfishness is overtaking our chance to be great.”
Costner, who voted for Barack Obama in 2008, was also asked about former first lady Michelle Obama running for president (something she’s said won’t be happening). “Michelle’s incredibly bright and articulate and has possessed good judgement and experience as a result. Why couldn’t she be [president]?” he replied, adding, “She’d have a level of interest from me.”
His sentiments riled up Trump supporters who took to social media to say they aren’t interested in his opinions — or the opinions of anyone else in the entertainment business for that matter. He was called “brain-dead,” a “has-been” and “stupid” for expressing his personal beliefs.
Another has been actor who thinks we care about what he thinks. News flash Costber - we don't. Actors-people who think they are more important and know more than everyone else. they dont. They play pretend for a living while ripping viewers off https://t.co/Elb6Ix9TUN #FoxNews
— MAGA.reb (@lets_maga) May 4, 2019
Kevin Costner , I had no idea you were one of the stupid celebrities, Michelle Obama for president 😂😅🤣
— steve atkinson (@steveat18323948) May 4, 2019
Wow Latest commits by Kevin Costner about Michelle Obama running for President He must be totally brain dead she has no clue never ran a business and had done nothing but collect royalties from her story telling what a joke
— jbird1124 (@jbird11241) May 5, 2019
Another overpaid actor who has been a selfish, narcissistic womanizer most of his adult life. #STFU
Kevin Costner is disappointed with American politics: 'Shame on us'@CNN @FoxNews@THR @Yellowstonehttps://t.co/4NHOiHKmxV— Steven O'Shea (@StevenOShea10) May 5, 2019
However, some came to Costner’s defense, saying the actor made a solid argument.
Not that I'm a Costner fan, but I appreciate him telling it like it is. “The political landscape is unrecognizable to me, and shame on us for being in that spot"... ‘I want to try to be more than about myself.’ That’s the definition of public service.”
— Angela Johnson (@AJ_in_Flalaland) May 5, 2019
Correct, shame on us. We are so selfish now.
— Susan Hicks (@Susan0977) May 5, 2019
While Twitter is all fired up about this, Costner’s comments are in line with what he’s been saying for some time. Ahead of the 2016 election, he said he didn’t find the presidential election as “entertaining” as others did. “I find it embarrassing. I find it highly immature. I think America is really teetering at a low point with the way we talk to each other.” He asked, “Where are our big ideas? There’s dialogue right now that’s shameful.”
But the actor admittedly came from conservative roots. In an interview with Huffington Post in 2008, he was asked about being a registered Republican until the 1996 election, then changing his registration to Independent and mostly voting Democrat after that.
“I’m not a Republican,” he said. “I basically was raised in a house that was a Republican house. My politics came out my kitchen table, listening to my parents. I thought the people that protested against the Vietnam war were unpatriotic because my brother was fighting over in Vietnam. I was only 14 years old. As I got time and distance I realized it was just a difference of opinion and their opinion wasn’t necessarily wrong. As a person evolves they begin to have their own voice and their own way of thinking. I wasn’t ahead of my time.”
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