Josh Brolin is opening up about his past friendship with the current president of the United States, Donald Trump.
“I’m not scared of Trump, because even though he says he’s staying forever, it’s just not going to happen,” The Goonies star told The Independent in an interview published on Saturday, November 29, referring to the current president’s claims that he is considering seeking a third term despite it being unconstitutional.
“And if it does, then I’ll deal with that moment,” Brolin continued of Trump’s claims. “But having been a friend of Trump before he was president, I know a different guy.”
Brolin met the current president long before he set his sights on the White House. The actor first spent time with the then-builder and entrepreneur after appearing in Oliver Stone’s 2010 film Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.
“There is no greater genius than him in marketing — he takes the weakness of a general population and fills it,” Brolin said of Trump. “And that’s why I think a lot of people feel that they have a mascot in him. I think it’s much less about Trump than it is about the general population and their need for validation.”
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Despite a third term being prohibited courtesy of the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Trump has on many occasions claimed he is contemplating or considering another presidential bid. Earlier this year, the president told NBC news that “a lot of people want me to” run for a third term. In October, he said he would “love” to launch another presidential election, though he later clarified that it’s “pretty clear” that he is “not allowed to run.”
“It’s been a great run,” current speaker of the House Mike Johnson told reporters when asked if he supported the president running for an unconstitutional third term. “But I think the president knows, and he and I have talked about, the constrictions of the Constitution, as much as so many of the American people lament that.”
The president has even showcased “Trump 2028” hats inside the White House, including the Oval Office.
Despite publicly speaking out against the current president, Brolin insists that his new Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery character — a charismatic and corrupt priest named Monsignor Wicks who creates a cult-like following via his hateful rhetoric — is not based on Trump.
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“I could make something up and say it was rooted in a kind of Trumpian greed,” Brolin admitted to the outlet, before insisting that his character isn’t based on the president while acknowledging that “Wicks garners a sense of power, then there are no boundaries.”
“It’s genius,” Brolin added of the film itself. “It took me to a few different places that I really didn’t anticipate, and I love that. It’s a great labyrinth.”
Of course, Brolin is far from the first famous person to have been — and in many instances remained — friends with the present. As a former reality TV host and beauty pageant owner, Trump rubbed shoulders with some of Hollywood’s most well-known actors and personalities prior to ascending to the highest office in the land, including Oprah, Anna Wintour, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Martha Stewart.
