Josh Gad on the 2016 Presidential Election: ‘I’m Terrified’
Comedic actor Josh Gad—best known for playing the voice of Olaf in Disney’s “Frozen”—is among the Hollywood stars at this week’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. He spoke to Variety about his thoughts on the election and why he’s supporting Hillary Clinton.
Josh Gad: What am I thinking right now? I’m thinking a lot of thoughts that begin with “I’m” and end with “terrified.” I think that this election started off as a reality show and that set the tone for what we’re seeing now. People are entertained by the election coverage and that’s great because it brings eyeballs to both campaigns. But it’s also dangerous. It starts to get away from substance and starts becoming more about, “Oh wow, I can’t believe that just happened.” That worries me. I’m a father of two little kids. I’m as concerned for their future as I’ve ever been.
Every time there’s an election, it’s thrown out there that this is the most important election in our lifetime. But I believe that that’s not hyperbole this time around. A lot of the rhetoric that I’ve heard coming out of Trump’s mouth is nothing short of divisive, scary and makes you believes he’s unqualified. For years, I’ve been a fan of him as an entertainer, and I still am. I think he’s done a brilliant job of marketing himself in this election cycle and changing politics forever. I think he should be commended for that. But I don’t think is that makes for a great president.
My concern is that a lot of people, especially younger people, are looking at this from an entertainment perspective. What if? How crazy would it if Trump got elected? And they are forgetting to ask themselves the most important question: What happens the day after he’s elected? Nobody is thinking that far out. The Brexit analogy is a good one. The day after Brexit, the No. 1 trending thing on Google was, “What is the European Union?”
I’m supporting Hillary Clinton, because I think she will not only be a good president; she is in my lifetime the most qualified person to run for the presidency. I’m also supporting Hillary for selfish reasons. I would love for my two daughters to be around for the first female president of the United States. I think it’s important. We’ve done it 250 years for one way. Let’s see what happens if we change it up.
I hope people take the time to educate themselves on the nuances, which I know is boring. Whenever you make your decision, whatever decision that is, go out and research. I have friends who are voting for Trump. I get a lot of what they are saying. They are not getting the paychecks they need to pay for a family. But understand one man is improvising as he goes along, and the other person has a 40-plus year history of actually defending common people.
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