Richard Dreyfuss says the USA can't afford to have a Donald Trump type person in the presidency
Jaws actor Richard Dreyfuss has criticised Donald Trump's presidency, insisting America cannot afford to have a person like him in the White House.
Richard Dreyfuss says the USA "can't afford to have a Donald Trump type person in the presidency" because his time in the White house is having a damaging effect on American society.
The Jaws actor - who played oceanographer Matt Hooper in Steven Spielberg's 1975 shark blockbuster - runs The Dreyfuss Civics Initiative, a non-profit, non-partisan organisation committed to revitalising civics education in America’s public schools in order to promote social responsibility.
Dreyfuss, 78, says under Trump's presidency Americans are getting "lazy" and "silly" and the country's citizens need to start living by the core American values of the past.
Appearing on The Daily Jaws podcast, he said: "If you're not taught how to be a civic animal then you don't learn it. And if you don't learn that you cannot learn to be an American with certain values and the values of being an American have been shown to all of us as being worthwhile and of great value. If you don't learn it - no one teaches it - you have an empty experience. That's not something we can afford.
"Without getting partisan, we can't afford to have a Donald Trump type person in the presidency. We can't afford to waste the opportunity that we offer normal people, we should take every opportunity we can to overcome that deficiency and don't let America slip away. Everyone knows that that has happened in a sense. We've become lazy, we've become silly, and we are not. You have to put yourself on the line and let yourself be heard."
The Close Encounters of the Third Kind star says the goal of The Dreyfuss Civics Initiative is to remind his fellow Americans the importance of being civically minded and realise that you are part of something bigger than your own life and household.
Dreyfuss says there are two movies he returns to time and again and educates young people about because they both demonstrate that "you have a much larger life".
He said: "The Dreyfuss Initiative is basically very simple. It was to remind Americans that when they went to school they learned how to be social animals, civic animals, that you have natural connections to your neighbours, to your friends, to your enemies, you can all share this experience.
"If someone asked me my favourite films, I would say there are two movies that don't come to mind immediately. One of them is The Ox-Bow Incident, with Henry Fonda, and the other is the Unforgiven, with Clint Eastwood. Both of those films are about being reminded that you have a much larger life and you are connected to the world around you. These are huge films. I really can be warmed by talking about them and by showing them to young people."
Dreyfuss - who, in 2016, stated he was not a Democrat - has previously been an outspoken critic of President Trump, 79, insisting he should not be allowed anywhere near the White House.
In a 2016 interview with The Guardian newspaper - which took place before Trump won his first presidential election - Dreyfuss said: "If a man like that asked you for permission to marry your daughter, what would your answer be? If it’s no, I think it’s obvious we shouldn’t give him the most powerful office on the face of the earth."
