Robert Redford Rips “Dictator-Like” Donald Trump; ‘Watchmen’ POTUS Says USA Has Become “Divided States of America”

Robert Redford is already President of the United States on HBO’s Watchmen & his attack today on “dictator-like” Donald Trump sure sounds like a man weighing a real life bid for the White House.

“There are only 11 months left before the presidential election; 11 months before we get our one real chance to right this ship and change the course of disaster that lies before us,” the Sundance Film Festival founder declared Tuesday in an op-ed for NBC News (read the full Redford op-ed below)“Let’s rededicate ourselves to voting for truth, character and integrity in our representatives (no matter which side we’re on),” Redford added less than two months before the film and TV shindig in Park City, Utah kicks off its 2020 run. “Let’s go back to being the leader the world so desperately needs. Let’s return, quickly, to being simply … Americans.”

While far from the first time that the 83-year old Sundance Kid has fired off into the former Celebrity Apprentice host, this latest salvo is his most visceral and timely indictment against what he calls Trump’s “monarchy in disguise.”

While clearly never a Trump fan, Redford once took a much more measured POV on the 45th POTUS, as he notes in today’s op-ed. “Presidents come and go, the pendulum swings back and forth, the Oscar winner said at the 2017 Sundance fest, the day before Trump was sworn in. Less than four months later, Redford was already heading to the barricades. In April 2017, The All The President’s Men actor asserted that the Trump team taken the Nixon administration’s “false accusations of ‘shoddy’ and ‘shabby’ journalism to new and dangerous heights.”

With today’s onslaught against Trump (who has yet to respond via social media) and the very campaign-like prose from The Candidate star, it is extremely unlikely that the on-screen retired Redford is actually going be joining the burgeoning pack of Democrats looking to take on the incumbent next November.

Still, real life and already officially declared contenders such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, ex-VP Joe Biden and Mayor Pete Buttigieg may want to ask Redford if they can borrow some of his scathing words for their stump speech – the man knows how to put on a show and that’s what election 2020 is truly all about.

Here is the full op-ed penned by Robert Redford for NBC News today:

We’re up against a crisis I never thought I’d see in my lifetime: a dictator-like attack by President Donald Trump on everything this country stands for. As last week’s impeachment hearings made clear, our shared tolerance and respect for the truth, our sacred rule of law, our essential freedom of the press and our precious freedoms of speech — all have been threatened by a single man.

It’s time for Trump to go — along with those in Congress who have chosen party loyalty over their oath to “solemnly affirm” their support for the Constitution of the United States. And it’s up to us to make that happen, through the power of our votes.

When Trump was elected, though he was not my choice, I honestly thought it only fair to give the guy a chance. And like many others, I did. But almost instantly he began to disappoint and then alarm me. I don’t think I’m alone.

Tonight it pains me to watch what is happening to our country. Growing up as a child during World War II, I watched a united America defend itself against the threat of fascism. I watched this again, during the Watergate crisis, when our democracy was threatened. And again, when terrorists turned our world upside down.

During those times of crises, Congress came together, and our leaders came together. Politicians from both sides rose to defend our founding principles and the values that make us a global leader and a philosophical beacon of hope for all those seeking their own freedoms.

What is happening, right now, is so deeply disturbing that instead of the United States of America, we are now defined as the Divided States of America. Leaders on both sides lack the fundamental courage to cross political aisles on behalf of what is good for the American people.

We’re at a point in time where I reluctantly believe that we have much to lose — it is a critical and unforgiving moment. This monarchy in disguise has been so exhausting and chaotic, it’s not in the least bit surprising so many citizens are disillusioned.

The vast majority of Americans are busy with real life; trying to make ends meet and deeply frustrated by how hard Washington makes it to do just that.

But this is it. There are only 11 months left before the presidential election; 11 months before we get our one real chance to right this ship and change the course of disaster that lies before us.

Let’s rededicate ourselves to voting for truth, character and integrity in our representatives (no matter which side we’re on). Let’s go back to being the leader the world so desperately needs. Let’s return, quickly, to being simply … Americans.

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