Actor George Clooney said “it’s a scary time to be a news person” under President Donald Trump’s administration during an interview on Wednesday.
Clooney told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that “most news organizations are under fire” by the Trump administration and that Cooper and CBS’ “60 Minutes” have been specifically “picked out.”
While the actor expressed concerns about the current state of the country, he did push back on Cooper’s assertion that America is currently at its worst.
“I can make an argument that we’re not. I can make an argument that we’ve had much worse times in our history. You know, 1968, every city in the United States was burning and there was — National Guard was surrounding the White House and the Capitol, and we’d lost Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy and Tet Offensive,” he said.
Clooney continued, vocalizing his concerns about the Trump administration’s alleged “attack” on news organizations.
“But it’s a frustrating time, and I think a scary time for many people. It’s a scary time to be a news person, to be in your profession. You’ve been picked out, you know, ‘60 Minutes’ has been picked out. Most news organizations are under fire,” he said. “That usually happens with demagogues in a way. It usually is a way of — the first places you attack are the news, because that’s how we inform ourselves.”
Cooper followed up by asking the actor if he believes that “Trumpism” will last following the current president’s term.
“I don‘t think so,” Clooney replied. “I think it‘d be very hard to do it. Remember this: Donald Trump is a celebrity. That‘s what he is. I mean, he has a star on Hollywood Boulevard. I don’t have a star on Hollywood Boulevard. I’m not lobbying for one. I’m just saying.”
He continued by noting that while Trump is “charming” and many of the people who support him find him “funny,” another large portion of Americans do not.
“And so when he is finished, and he will be finished, they’re going to have to go looking for someone who can deliver the message that he delivered with the same kind of charisma. And they don’t have that,” he said of the Republican Party.
Later in the interview, Cooper asked Clooney whether he’s worried about Trump personally targeting him.
“Sure. Everybody worries about it,” he responded. “But, you know, if you spend your life worrying about things, then you won’t do things. You know, we have, like everybody, a family, and we have a life, and we try to, you know, live and do things as the best example for our kids. And I want to be able to look at my kids in the eye and say where we stood and what we did at certain times in history. And I have no problem with that.”
