Kumail Nanjiani: The ‘Fate of the World’ Hinges on Defeating Trump

Actor Kumail Nanjiani says he’ll vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is because the fate of the planet hinges on defeating President Donald Trump.

“This might not be the right thing to say, but I will vote for whoever the democratic candidate is,” the Stuber star said in an interview with Variety. “There are people who I favor but even if the bottom of my list is the Democratic candidate, I am voting for them.”

“I like Kamala Harris. I like Elizabeth Warren. But there are still so many candidates,” Nanjiani said of the Democratic White House hopefuls that he’s fond of.

“Good societies make good people and bad societies make bad people. And I think we’re really on a sort of a cusp of deciding what kind of society we’re going to be,” the actor said when asked about how much hope he has in America in the Trump-era. “This next election is going to be extremely, extremely important — not just for the fate of America but for the fate of the world.”

“I mean I donate a lot,” he said when asked how much he’ll get involved with the election. “I was very, very, vocal going into the 2016 election. I was very for the 2018 midterms. I have been a little more quiet. I realized that when I say this stuff, the only people who are listening to me are the people who agree with me.”

Indeed, in September 2017 the Silicon Valley star said America is “much scarier” today than it was after the deadly Islamic terror attacks of September 11th, 2001. But the actor has been far less vocal about politics, particularly on social media.

Nanjiani said “I’m trying to fight for positive stuff. If I can have ideas in the work I do that hopefully can affect people’s minds or change people’s minds about something. If mainstream entertainment doesn’t have the power to change people’s thinking then what’s the point of it?”

“I have to hope. I do think that if somehow the 2020 election can go the other way, that we can turn things around; it’s not that these ideas are new or that these now feel like this. They’ve always felt like this. They just fell more comfortable expressing how they feel. And hopefully that’s change.”

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson