It looks like conservatives have found their latest Hollywood spokesperson in the star of Dawson’s Creek. (Or so they think.)
On Tuesday, actor James Van Der Beek took to Instagram to call out the Democratic National Committee for their unified backing of President Joe Biden, who’s preparing to announce his bid for re-election in 2024. Currently, the DNC has no primary debates scheduled for Biden and his handful of Democratic opponents, which has led to some outcry from the party members, like former Ohio Senator Nina Turner, and Biden’s presidential challengers, Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy.
“I cannot get over the fact that the Democratic National Committee is saying there will not be a debate to decide the nominee for president,” the 46-year-old actor said, while pushing his child in a stroller. “Are you fucking kidding me? There’s no debate?”
“There’s no debate over an 80-year-old man who, if he lives, will be the oldest sitting president in the history of the country?” he continued. “And if he doesn’t live, has a vice president whose approval rating is worse than his?"
Ostensibly, Van Der Beek is not a huge fan of the current administration, which is not a particularly unique sentiment based on Biden’s ever-decreasing approval rating. Concerns over Biden’s age have also been a popular subject of debate within and outside of party lines.
‘This guy has obviously declining mental faculties,” the actor said in the video. “You’re putting him up in front of a podium with flashcards telling him who to call on and what the questions are going to be. And you’re telling us there’s no debate? What about the will of the people?"
It didn’t take long for right-wing pundits to lift Van Der Beek up as their new celebrity hero.
This morning, conservative commentators like Fox & Friends’ Steve Doocy applauded the Varsity Blues star for “ripping into” the DNC and interpreting his words as an alignment with the Republican Party. The host did not mention the fact that two-time presidential hopeful Donald Trump has also weighed skipping out on the Republican National Committee's primary debates.
“I never would’ve believed that Dawson Leery from Dawson’s Creek back in the day would make more sense analyzing the Democrat state of the presidential nomination fight than anyone on MSNBC or CNN combined,” right-wing pundit Clay Travis gleefully told Doocy in one Fox & Friends segment.
“I watched this video,” he continued. “And I was like, this guy deserves to be sitting on a panel analyzing everything that’s going on right now.”
In another Fox segment later in the day, anchor Bill Hemmer played Van Der Beek’s comments for RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, before reminding viewers that the Pose star recently moved from Los Angeles to Texas. (Nothing gets Fox News more excited apparently than a “Hollywood liberal” moving to the Bible Belt.)
Van Der Beek’s political views aren’t widely known, although he’s been associated with progressive causes in the past. His wife Kimberly Van Der Beek, on the other hand, has previously promoted anti-vax conspiracies.
Whatever his current politics may be, his most recent comments are giving desperate pundits a reason to celebrate.