Two weeks ago I complained that the new Paramount+ show The Agency had too many plots going on for me, a woman of moderate intelligence, to get a grip on what was actually happening. Now that the series has concluded… I’d still like to know what went on in those 10 hours I watched! OK, I may tend to hyperbole, but sometimes it’s frustrating to see really good actors underserved by less-great material. Among the ensemble was Richard Gere, who played a long-suffering CIA desk executive (at least from what I could glean; see above). Well, The Agency aside, Richard was just given a lifetime achievement honor from the Spanish Goya Awards over the weekend. He and his wife Alejandra Silva have been based in her home country since last fall, a move from America that they’d planned before the election. But though Richard is gone from the States, his country has not been forgotten by him, as he used his acceptance speech to condemn Trump and the age of authoritarianism he’s ushering in:

Film star Richard Gere slammed President Donald Trump and warned of the rise of authoritarianism globally during an award show in Spain over the weekend.

“I’m coming from a place now that we’re in a very dark place in America, where we have a bully and a thug who is the president of the United States,” Gere, 75, said as he accepted a lifetime achievement trophy at Spain’s Goya Awards on Saturday.

The crowd cheered.

But Gere — who last year announced he was moving to Spain, where his wife, Alejandra Silva, is from — said the problem isn’t confined to his homeland.

“It’s everywhere,” he said. “Everywhere.”

He said he read a “moving letter” in The New York Times from a writer in Hungary who warned of the “slippery slope.”

“Authoritarianism takes us all over,” he said. “We have to be vigilant. We have to be alert. We have to be energetic. We have to be brave. We have to be courageous. And everyone who’s watching this — in the Spanish-speaking world and elsewhere — we have to be willing to stand up, tell the truth, be honest. And there’s a place in all of our lives for basic kindness, for basic love and understanding.”

Variety noted that Gere made similar comments at a news conference on Friday where he warned that the “dark marriage of money and power” in the United States is a danger to the entire planet.

“The millionaire clowns surrounding Trump are immature and narcissistic, a deadly mix,” he said.

[From HuffPost]

I like the term “millionaire clowns.” Though I think in Elon Musk’s case, since he appears to be the ringleader anyway, his title should be upgraded to “Billionaire Elno the Clown™” (not a typo!). As for the rest of Richard’s comments… Do I believe in his sentiments? Yes. Do I think his saying them in an acceptance speech will change anything? Not really. But I’ve been wrong about plenty of things (like what would happen last November), so I’d love nothing more than to be wrong about this! Or maybe my pessimism/grumpitude is down to me having a negative knee jerk reaction to his saying we need to be “energetic,” because nothing makes me feel more tired than hearing someone tell me to bring more energy. Or perhaps I’m just jealous that I don’t have a country on the Iberian coast that I can escape to! In any event, I’m glad Richard is still connected and concerned about the US. As Bill Nighy says in the beginning of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, “These are dark times, there is no denying.”

Richard Gere, “We have a bully and a thug who is President of the United States”

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— Farrukh (@implausibleblog.bsky.social) February 9, 2025 at 9:29 AM

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