Susan Sarandon: Donald Trump ‘Legitimized Racism and Homophobia’

CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 15: Actress Susan Sarandon attends Kering Talks Women In Motion At Th
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

Actress Susan Sarandon says Donald Trump’s biggest policy plans — including building a wall on the southern border and deporting illegal alien immigrants — are “not that threatening,” because he won’t actually be able to get them done if he is elected president.

The 69-year-old Oscar-winner and often outspoken supporter of Democrat presidential contender Bernie Sanders talked politics with Variety from the Cannes Film Festival over the weekend, where she expressed hope that Sanders could still wrest the nomination away from Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

“The thing that’s interesting about Trump is that the main things that he talks about are absolutely impossible, so they’re not that threatening,” Sarandon told the outlet. “He’s obviously not gonna build a wall, he’s not gonna be able to export all the Muslims in the United States. All of those things are impossible to do. So they’re not what’s threatening.”

“What he did that was terrible is, he legitimized racism and homophobia and everything else, in order to get that very discontented base that wants something authentic, and he seemed authentic,” she added.

Sarandon — who has frequently warned that fired-up progressive Democrats may not vote for Clinton in a general election —  called Clinton “a very good Republican candidate” and said she would need to change her positions on issues like fracking and healthcare to secure support from Sanders voters.

The actress also said she believes the socialist Vermont senator could still receive the nomination, because Clinton could be “indicted at any moment” over the use of a private email server while she served as Secretary of State. In an interview with Larry King just last week, Sarandon warned that Clinton’s “health issues” could prevent her from locking up the nomination.

“All those things that are leaking out now are terrible,” Sarandon told Variety. “So I don’t know what’s going to happen with the indictment. They’re trying to push it off; the date is now like the day after the [Democrat National] Convention. But some of the superdelegates are changing. I mean, you can’t ignore what’s happened with [Sanders], with the thousands and thousands of people.”

“There’s also an enormous amount of voter fraud that has been exposed,” she said, adding: “And the DNC hasn’t even said a thing. At least people now are awake.”

Watch Sarandon’s interview with Variety here.

 

Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum

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