Actor Robert Redford Endorses Biden; Says, “Another Four Years [of Trump] Would Degrade Our Country Beyond Repair”

Robert Redford is the founder of the Sundance Film Festival.

In his 60 year career as an actor, he has stared in films including The Horse Whisperer, Out of Africa, The Great Gatsby, and Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid.

Now, he is adding "Trump critic" to his resume.

According to his op-ed at CNN:

I have a lot of vivid memories of growing up in Los Angeles in the 1940s, but one in particular keeps coming back to me today, in these troubled times. I remember sitting with my parents -- actually, my parents were sitting; I was lying on the floor, the way kids do -- and listening to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt talking to us over the radio.

He was talking to the nation, of course, not just to us, but it sure felt that way. He was personal and informal, like he was right there in our living room.

I was too young to follow much of what he was saying -- something about World War II. But what I did understand was that this was a man who cared about our well-being. I felt calmed by his voice.
It was a voice of authority and, at the same time, empathy. 

Americans were facing a common enemy -- fascism -- and FDR gave us the sense that we were all in it together. Even kids like me had a role to play: participating in paper drives, collecting scrap metal, doing whatever we could do.

That's what it was like to have a president with a strong moral compass. It guided him, gave him direction, and helped him point the nation toward a better future.

Maybe this strikes you as simple nostalgia. I've got a touch of that, sure (who doesn't right now?). But I'm too focused on the future to sit around pining for the old days. For me, the power of FDR's example is what it says about the kind of leadership America needs -- and can have again, if we choose it.

But one thing is clear: Instead of a moral compass in the Oval Office, there's a moral vacuum.

Instead of a president who says we're all in it together, we have a president who's in it for himself.

Instead of words that uplift and unite, we hear words that inflame and divide.

[...]

Another four years of this would degrade our country beyond repair.

The toll it's taking is almost biblical: fires and floods, a literal plague upon the land, an eruption of hatred that's being summoned and harnessed, by a leader with no conscience or shame.

Four more years would accelerate our slide toward autocracy. It would be taken as free license to punish more so-called "traitors" and wage more petty vendettas -- with the full weight of the Justice Department behind them.

Four more years would mean open season on our environmental laws. The assault has been ongoing -- it started with abandoning the historic agreement that the world made in Paris to combat climate change, and continued, just last month, with using the pandemic as cover to let industries pollute as they see fit.

Four more years would bring untold damage to our planet -- our home.

America is still a world power. But in the past four years, it has lost its place as a world leader. A second term would embolden enemies and further weaken our standing with our friends.

While Redford was criticizing President Trump, he hardly outlined why Biden would be a better alternative.

(Perhaps because he wouldn't be?)

And he re-hashed the same old regurgitated critiques we've heard about President Trump without taking a moment to actually examine his policies and accomplishments. 

Once a Never Trumper, always a Never Trumper, it appears.

Another Hollywood elite telling us to vote for the Democrat?!

Color us surprised...

For some reason, Hollywood elites think we care about what they have to say about politics.

If Redford wanted headlines with his name, well, that's exactly what he got.

Many news organizations covered the op ed, including The Hill:

Actor and director Robert Redford endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president in a Wednesday op-ed, saying the presumptive Democratic nominee would restore “empathy and ethics” to the office.

While the “All Is Lost” star is a longtime environmentalist and LGBTQ rights activist, he wrote on CNN that he doesn’t “make a practice of publicly announcing my vote. But this election year is different.”

The reelection of President Trump, Redford wrote, would “accelerate our slide toward autocracy. It would be taken as free license to punish more so-called ‘traitors’ and wage more petty vendettas — with the full weight of the Justice Department behind them.”

Redford predicted “untold damage” to the environment under a second Trump term, citing the president’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and rollback of Obama-era energy and environmental regulations.

In contrast, he wrote, “Biden leads with his heart. I don't mean that in a soft and sentimental way. I'm talking about a fierce compassion — the kind that fuels him, that drives him to fight against racial and economic injustice, that won't let him rest while people are struggling.”

The elitism that is favoring Biden is the exact reason why Trump won in 2016.

Fortunately, it appears the Democrats haven't learned from their mistakes.

They're reliving 2016 all over again.

Trump may yet pull-off another surprise upset victor in November!

Our country depends on it.