Actor Michael Douglas is down on the United States and claims that the country has become an “autocracy” because people are going into politics just for the money.
Appearing at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Saturday, the Falling Down star told a reporter that “people are going into politics now to make money, and we maintain an idealism in the U.S. which does not exist now.”
The actor, who was at the festival for the debut of a restored version of the classic film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, was asked about the theme of rebellion embodied in the film before bringing up President Donald Trump, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Douglas seemed uninterested in talking about Trump, and replied, “I think our president’s name has been mentioned enough over the short time that he’s been president.”
But he did have more to say about the state of America.
“Our country is flirting with autocracy, [like] some other democracies in this world,” he told the reporter, “what we’re struggling with right now is a reminder for all of the hard work that the Czech did in terms of gaining their freedom and their independence … democracy is not to be taken for granted. I think it reminds us that we all need to make our efforts. It’s not the job of somebody else.”
But he is also disappointed.
“The disappointing thing is that politics now seems to be for profit,” he continued. “Money has entered democracy, not just in our country, but in others, as a way of a profit center. People are going into politics now to make money, and we maintain an idealism in the U.S. which does not exist now.”
“I find myself worried, I’m nervous, and I just think it’s all of our responsibility, not for somebody else to look out for us, but for us to look out for ourselves,” he said.
It is not known where Douglas has been all his life to suddenly wake up to the realization that many people go into politics for the money. Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi, for one, adds millions to her net worth every year with her entirely suspicious and highly successful stock trading while service in Congress.
Last year alone she increased her wealth as much as $42 million in what many feel is insider trading, the New York Post reported.
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