When various celebrities are using the COVID-19 pandemic to drive a wedge between Americans based on politics, actor Matthew McConaughey has delivered a message of unity.
Speaking with Bret Baier of Fox News on Tuesday, the Academy Award-winning actor lamented how quickly divisions formed between Americans when fighting the pandemic, feeling that partisan politics hijacked the conversation.
“I could feel that this united purpose we all have as Americans to beat this enemy and this virus, that purpose got hijacked a bit by partisan politics,” McConaughey said. “The narrative became, if you want to go to work, you’re on the far right. If you don’t go to work, and you want to stay home, you’re on the far left.”
“And now even the mask wearing is getting politicized, where if you want to wear a mask, you wear a mask, you’re a liberal. And if you don’t, you’re a conservative – and that’s just not true,” he added.
This man is a national treasure. pic.twitter.com/kHTEnW2f4C
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) May 12, 2020
Rather than fight “two wars” against both each other and the virus, McConaughey said that Americans need to come together and fight the virus as one.
“But if we try to fight the one against the virus, which is the one we should be fighting,” McConaughey said. “We’re gonna beat it.”
The “Dallas Buyers Club” actor then said that Americans do best when they are united in purpose against a common enemy, recalling how the country joined together in World War II.
“Part of it is saying just that, to remind us that this is not about politics. It’s about us, the USA,” McConaughey said. “We’ve gotta take care of each other right now. We have a collective purpose. I mean, how many times do we have a unanimous, are we unanimously convicted of an enemy that we all want to beat? And look at how great Americans are when purpose comes to us in a crisis. Look at who we are in World War II.”
“And we have a crisis that came to us. We were united in that purpose. And all of a sudden the human factor started to get split, and two tribes started fighting each other in partisan politics, and that is not what we need,” McConaughey continued. “We need a collection right now. This is a tug of war with the virus. We need all hands on the rope if we’re gonna beat it.”
As far as the federal government’s response to the virus, the actor did believe that it should be doing more.
“I don’t know if the federal government is doing all it can. I know they’re doing a lot,” McConaughey said. “Look, I think the word is not ‘solution.’ I don’t see a solution right now. We are waiting for science to catch up with us in this predicament,” the “Dallas Buyers Club” star continued. “So, what can each of us do independently, individually, in our families, in our households, in our communities, in our neighborhoods, in our cities?”
On the social distance guidelines we have to follow, McConaughey likened them to “Band-Aids” that we use until the scientists can control the virus.
“I think they’re Band-Aids to hold off until science catches up, until there’s not two patients for every one bed like there was in New York, until we see that an asymptomatic person doesn’t give it to someone who didn’t have it,” he said. “So we can protect the elderly, especially, and the younger ones. This is unchartered waters. There’s not a playbook.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.