Clint Eastwood Says ‘Best Thing’ Would Be to ‘Get Mike Bloomberg’ in White House, NOT Trump
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Legendary actor, director, and Republican Clint Eastwood, once the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published this week that the “best thing” for America would be to “just get” fellow former mayor Mike Bloomberg in office, pointedly not endorsing President Donald Trump.
In the expansive WSJ interview, the topic of politics came up several times. Eastwood described himself as a “libertarian,” and said he “has respect for other people’s ideas and is willing to learn constantly.” They covered #MeToo and ideas about masculinity, and how those issues affect his recent film “Richard Jewell.”
Naturally the topic of Donald Trump came up.
As for the domestic political scene, Mr. Eastwood seems disheartened. “The politics has gotten so ornery,” he says, hunching his shoulders in resignation. He approves of “certain things that Trump’s done” but wishes the president would act “in a more genteel way, without tweeting and calling people names. I would personally like for him to not bring himself to that level.”
The Bloomberg remark closes the piece, as it closed the interview. “As he drives me back to my hotel, he expresses an affinity for another former mayor,” writs Tunku Varadarajan. He quotes Eastwood as saying, “The best thing we could do is just get Mike Bloomberg in there.”
Bloomberg traveling press secretary Galia Slayen shared the article, touting it as Eastwood’s endorsement of the campaign.
NEW: Clint Eastwood Endorses @MikeBloomberg: https://t.co/Z95TsVCzRB
— Galia Slayen (@gslayen) February 22, 2020
A Biden spokesman, rapid response director Andrew Bates, had a snarky reply.
Obama critic Michael Bloomberg touts endorsement from Obama critic Clint Eastwood https://t.co/dFuDvTwdrA https://t.co/CqLzuV06O9 pic.twitter.com/TjqM3Uapjl
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewBatesNC) February 22, 2020
The attached image, of course, is a reference to Eastwood’s infamous “empty chair” speech at the Republican convention way back in 2012.
