HOLLYWOOD

George Clooney Calls Donald Trump “a Xenophobic Fascist”

“He’s just an opportunist.”
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By Matthias Nareyek/WireImage.

This past September, George Clooney dismissed Donald Trump as a laughingstock and improbable political threat. Six months later, the Oscar winner and political activist is back on the media circuit to promote Hail Caesar! And with Trump seemingly maintaining momentum in the polls, Clooney is not nearly as gentle with his wording about the candidate.

“He’s just an opportunist,” Clooney tells The Guardian when asked about Trump. “Now he’s a fascist; a xenophobic fascist.”

“Let’s put things into perspective,” Clooney continues. “You know, the truth of the matter is, in election season, things go crazy, and the loudest voices are the furthest and most extreme. So you hear a massively stupid idea, like we’re going to ban Muslims from the country. Now, we’re not ever going to do that. It says in the Statue of Liberty, bring us your huddled masses. It’s not what’s going to happen.”

In spite of Trump’s depressingly strong poll numbers, the actor still has faith that Americans will see through the candidate—and recites the Winston Churchill quote: “You can count on Americans to do the right thing after they’ve exhausted all the other possibilities.”

For the record, yes, Clooney met Trump once. At the time of the interaction, the actor was seated in a booth. Later, Trump recapped the evening on Larry King Live, accusing the actor of being “very short” with him. Clooney, Hollywood’s modern-day Dean Martin, naturally has the perfect retort to this allegation: “I was sitting down the whole time, Donald!”

So who will Clooney be voting for come November?

“I am a Hillary supporter,” the actor says of Clinton. “I am doing a fundraiser for her.” Even though he's already chosen a candidate, he still has appreciation for the others—the level-headed ones at least.

“I really love Bernie Sanders,” Clooney adds, “and am really glad he is in the debate. He is forcing the conversation to things that never get talked about in US politics: disparity between the rich and the poor, which is getting worse and worse every day.”