HBO’s VEEP star Julia Louis-Dreyfus ripped President Donald Trump as a “fake president” who is a “complete moron, start to finish” in a wide-ranging interview with Time.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus was asked what she thinks about politicians in general and while she felt most were just trying to do the right thing, she excused Donald Trump from that assessment.
“He’d be funny if he didn’t have the power he has. He’s sort of a pretend, fake president. He’s a complete moron, start to finish,” she said.
Louis-Dreyfus’ show does not mention Trump by name because the series occupies in a fictional world. Indeed, the political parties are not often mentioned, but it is hinted that Louis-Dreyfus’ character is a Democrat.
“The great benefit to the fact that we’ve created this alternate political universe on VEEP has helped us through this moment,” the star said. “That is to say we’re not parodying any specific party or politician. We are parodying the culture of politics.”
But the latest season features a man running for president “on a platform of unabashed idiocy,” Time notes.
“You have the second lowest vaccination rate in the nation,” he tells a crowd at one point. “When I’m President, you’ll be No. 1!” It might be funnier if there weren’t currently a measles outbreak in Washington State, which experts attribute to vaccination skeptics. Or if Trump hadn’t spread the debunked conspiracy theory linking vaccines and autism, including in 2015 during a presidential primary debate.
Time insists that because of Trump, VEEP has had to try and up the ante in its comedy, to make if more outrageous.
Louis-Dreyfus regularly attacks President Trump. The Seinfeld actor starred in a political ad days before the midterm election and warned that the U.S. is heading toward a political reality similar to Nazi Germany because of President Trump.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.