Richard Gere made a dark comparison to illustrate the downfall of democracy in the United States, torching “maniac” Donald Trump and his administration in the process.
The legendary actor spoke about politics, freedom, and history in conversation with Venezuelan-Norwegian human rights activist Thor Halvorssen at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway on Tuesday. At the event, he helped present the Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent, but also sounded his platform to warn the public about letting history repeat itself.
Gere told the audience, “We’re living in the darkest moment that I’ve experienced on this planet.”
“How is this even possible? Because we went to sleep. We didn’t care. We didn’t vote. We didn’t really listen,” he said, adding he himself “didn’t do enough work to skillfully convince people around me, close to me, not close to me, that this was insane to elect this person as president of the United States.”
The Pretty Woman actor, no stranger to calling out Trump’s policies and abuses, said that on the very “first day, this guy dismantled almost everything that was good about the U.S. government and the U.S. people.”
“We have to see the cues, this dictatorship of the monsters, how quickly it happens,” he added. “We have to be vigilant.”
He then drew a comparison inspired by his visit to Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp in Germany. The Golden Globe-winner said he traveled to Dachau and was struck by how the concentration camp’s exhibition displayed “the transformation of German society and German government and how quickly it happened there.”
“Good people turned into monsters,” he said solemnly. “But you see how quickly our world can be taken from us if we fall asleep. And we have to see the cues.”
He said we have to recognize how quickly “this dictatorship of the monsters” can take over.
“We can’t sit back and go, ‘Ah, life is good. I’m fine. You know, I’ve got food. I got money. Blah blah blah. I got my house. I got another car. I’m thinking about this. I’m OK. I know he’s a bad guy, but it’s OK,’” Gere said passionately. “But it’s not OK. It’s not OK. It’s never OK.”
