Josh Brolin reflected on his past friendship with Donald Trump — back when the POTUS was a New York-based real estate mogul. Calling him a marketing ‘genius’, Oscar nominee Milk The actor said he knows a “different guy” than the GOP leader is cutting today.
In a long interview with The Independent promote Wake Up Dead Man: A knife-edge mysteryBrolin said he did not base his character, the megalomaniac Monsignor Wicks who leads a local church, on the president.
“I could make something up and say it was rooted in some sort of Trumpian greed,” he noted.
Of his past relationships, he said: “I’m not afraid of Trump, because even if he says he’ll stay forever, that’s just not going to happen. And if it does, then I’ll deal with that moment. But having been a friend of Trump’s before he was president, I know a different guy.”
He went on to talk about the Trump Hotel: “I’m sure there was a lot of corruption involved,” he remarked, adding that he found the idea of building a skyscraper “in the middle of a deserted city in the late ’70s… now it’s absolute power, it’s not regulated anymore” “interesting.”
THE No country for old people The alumnus concluded, “There’s no greater marketing genius than him – he takes the weakness of the general population and fills it. And that’s why I think a lot of people feel like they have a mascot in him. I think it’s a lot less about Trump and more about the general population and their need for validation.”
Brolin said he was friends with Trump, whom he first met after filming the Oliver Stone film. Wall Street 2: money never sleeps in 2010. Speaking with journalist Graham Bensinger last year, the Weapons The star described that initial dinner — which also featured Stone, co-star Shia LaBeouf and future first lady Melania Trump — as leading to the “strangest fucking moment” in which the mogul ignored her three separate requests to tour the floor of her Manhattan apartment.
Years later, during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2016, Brolin pointed out that he “was” chummy with Trump, echoing current sentiments by describing the reality TV star turned politician as having “single-handedly turned around the economy of Manhattan. I found that very fascinating. I think he’s an interesting guy.”
And, in 2020, Brolin shared a missive on Instagram — in which he described himself as a “conservative Democrat” — speaking out against Trump ahead of that year’s presidential election, saying, “I refuse to believe that Donald Trump is our fundamental version of American masculinity.”
