George Clooney Calls to Make America Great Again in Politically Charged, Anti-Trump Speech

Actor George Clooney hurled one swipe after another at Present Donald Trump and his administration earlier this week, telling the Film at Lincoln Center’s 51st annual Chaplin award audience America is in “a struggle for the very soul of this republic.”

“I can’t be here on a night like tonight and just ignore everything that’s going on in the world,” Clooney said.

“I disagree with everything that this administration stands for, but there’s no place for the kind of violence we saw two nights ago in Washington, D.C. Nor is there a room for this kind of violence in Minnesota with Alex Pretti or Renée Good,” the Ocean’s 11 star said of the anti-immigration protesters killed by federal agents earlier this year.

Drawing parallels to past politically tense moments in American history to now, Clooney said “It seems to me that there is a struggle that has to be won against hatred and corruption and cruelty and violence.”
“And it is a struggle for the very soul of this republic. Because to foment hate and violence is to inherit the win,” he said. “And then the question is, simply, are we as citizens of this great country what are we to do?And it is in that answer that all of us left, right, and center can build a more perfect union, heal our wounds, and begin to truly make America great again.”

These line in Clooney’s speech, of course, were met with applause.

Indeed, taking swipes at President Trump was a running theme of the night for Clooney. Before taking shots from the stage, Clooney went after Trump on the red carpet, defending Kimmel after he fantasized about the president’s death on his ABC late-night show.

“Jimmy’s a comedian, and I would argue that Karoline Leavitt didn’t mean shots should be fired, right? She was making a joke. Fair enough,” Clooney told Variety on the 51st Chaplin Award Gala red carpet on Monday, comparing Kimmel’s Melania Trump “has the glow of an expectant widow” joke to Leavitt quipping “there will be some shots fired tonight in the room” ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

“So, I look at that side and go, ‘Well, jokes are jokes.’ But the rhetoric, I think, is a little dangerous. And we’ve seen it a lot lately,” Clooney said.