Actor Robert Redford endorsed Joe Biden on Wednesday after blaming much of the country’s turmoil on President Donald Trump and warning that his re-election would dip the United States into “autocracy.”
In an op-ed for CNN, the 83-year-old Redford remembered his childhood during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose leadership he contrasted with the current president. “For me, the power of FDR’s example is what it says about the kind of leadership America needs — and can have again, if we choose it,” Redford wrote. “But one thing is clear: Instead of a moral compass in the Oval Office, there’s a moral vacuum.”
Redford continued, “Instead of a president who says we’re all in it together, we have a president who’s in it for himself. Instead of words that uplift and unite, we hear words that inflame and divide.” He went on to cite reasons he believes Trump “sacrifices — again and again — any claim to moral authority.”
“Another four years of this would degrade our country beyond repair,” Redford warned, adding, “The toll it’s taking is almost biblical: fires and floods, a literal plague upon the land, an eruption of hatred that’s being summoned and harnessed, by a leader with no conscience or shame.”
He further predicted another Trump term would “accelerate our slide toward autocracy,” as well as “bring untold damage to our planet” because of his administration’s environmental policies. Conceding the president is not responsible for every division in American culture, Redford nevertheless said Trump “found every fault line in America and wrenched them wide open.”
Redford offered up presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden as a solution to the quasi-apocalyptic problems he claims Trump presents, writing that, with Biden, “unity and empathy are on the ballot. Experience and intelligence are on the ballot.” He concluded by extolling Biden for his “fierce compassion” and likened his qualities to the “empathy and ethics” of FDR.
Redford has repeatedly criticized Trump throughout his presidency. During the impeachment hearings last November, Redford alleged “a dictator-like attack by President Donald Trump on everything this country stands for,” which he characterized as “monarchy in disguise.”
In April, Redford and his son, James Redford, co-wrote an op-ed for NBC blasting Trump for his response to the coronavirus and climate change. “As the pandemic began its global march, President Donald Trump failed to act quickly and decisively, likely increasing its toll and worsening our pain and suffering,” they wrote. “As he has done with climate change, Trump failed early on to embrace or even understand sound scientific consensus about what must be done to protect this nation and its people.”
A quote from Redford adorned the back cover of Trump’s 2015 book “Crippled America,” in which the actor said he was “glad” Trump had entered the 2016 race. A representative for Redford later denied to The Hollywood Reporter that his quote was intended as an endorsement.
Wow! Such nice words from Robert Redford on my running for President. Thank you, Robert. pic.twitter.com/TpV3w18BW6
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 8, 2015