Meryl Streep is truly iconic. She can do anything, and she will do it better than anyone else. Streep is the best actress of her generation. Harrison Ford is a worldwide name. He is the embodiment of Han Solo and Indiana Jones. He is a man respected. LeBron James is a three-time NBA Champion, and prominent charitable United States athlete. All three are said to be traitors of the U.S.A because they have spoken out against President Donald Trump.
On Sept. 12 to14 at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, Calif., Harrison Ford offered his thoughts and opinions. The summit brought leaders and people together from around the world to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of states, regions, cities, companies, investors and citizens with respect to climate action. Ford wanted anyone and everyone in the crowd that was concerned about the world’s environmental future to understand that their problems start at the very top of the “food chain.”
“Stop giving power to people who don’t believe in science, or worse than that, pretend they don’t believe in science for their own self-interest. They know who they are. We know who they are,” Ford said. The comment by the Star Wars actor could certainly be interpreted as an attack on President Donald Trump. In 2012, Trump referred to the climate crisis as a hoax created by the Chinese “…in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”
But this isn’t the first time a celebrity has called out our “fearless leader.” On Jan. 8, 2017 in her Golden Globes speech, Meryl Streep criticized Trump for mocking a reporter with a physical disability. “There was one performance this year that stunned me,” she said. “It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter. This instinct to humiliate when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform by someone powerful it filters down into everybody’s life. Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence,” Streep said.
She was referring to Trump’s speech in 2015 at a rally when he flailed his arms and slurred his words while speaking about New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski. Trump responded on Twitter denying the accusations of mocking Kovaleski and calling Streep overrated.
More recently in an interview that aired Aug 30. on CNN, LeBron James repeated a comment he has made before that he believes Trump is using sports to divide Americans. “What I’ve noticed over the past few months … he’s kinda used sports to kinda divide us, and that’s something that I can’t relate to,” James said referring to National Football League (NFL) players kneeling during the national anthem. After the interview aired Trump responded via twitter a few days later, “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!” Trump tweeted.
I understand that everyone is entitled to their beliefs and opinions. Our President has done many questionable things during his reign, but his ignorance, neglect of the truth and immaturity is astounding. When Trump speaks he has a way of shaping the truth in a different light. He spins stories every day, but whenever someone goes against him they are immediately labeled as traitors. Trump is our leader whether we like it or not. He is a symbol of America to other countries, but for him to be so ignorant, petty and neglectful it makes U.S. citizens look pretty bad.
Ford, Streep and James are not the first or second or even third personas to call Trump out on his defective intelligence and immaturity, but due to Trump’s erratic, abundant and hurtful tweets people are starting to take notice of the real Donald Trump. Our President needs to realize that he is the leader of our country and he cannot keep acting like a 12-year-old anytime someone disagrees with him. He cannot keep insulting and attacking his citizens, or else the U.S will start looking like a dictatorship rather than the land of dreams.