Sharon Stone has joined Alec Baldwin in using a public event at the Torino Film Festival in Italy to express dismay that Americans voted to allow Donald Trump to return to the White House.
Like Baldwin, Stone was being honored at the annual festival in Northern Italy, and like Baldwin, Stone was a vocal supporter of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Furthermore, Stone also criticized those voting for the polarizing 45th president in her comments, without actually uttering his name.
Actor Alec Baldwin attends his trial on involuntary manslaughter for the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming of the Western movie “Rust,” Friday, July 12, 2024, at Santa Fe County District Court in Santa Fe, N.M. (Ramsay de Give/Pool Photo via AP) Ramsay de Give/Pool Photo via AP
During a panel discussion, Stone was asked a question about the International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women and answered by airing her concerns about what she sees as America’s potential slide into fascism.
“We have to stop and think about who we choose for government,” the 66-year-old native of Pennsylvania said. “And if, in fact, we are actually choosing our government or if the government is choosing itself.”
“You know, Italy has seen fascism,” Stone said to the assembled reporters after receiving a lifetime achievement award. “Italy has seen these things, you guys. And you understand what happens. You have seen this before.”
“My country is in the midst of adolescence,” Stone continued. “Adolescence is very arrogant. Adolescence thinks it knows everything. Adolescence is naive and ignorant and arrogant. And we are in our ignorant, arrogant adolescence.”
Stone added that Americans had never witnessed these events in the country before.
“So, Americans who don’t travel, who 80% don’t have a passport, who are uneducated, are in their extraordinary naïveté,” Stone said. “What I would say is that the only way that we can help with these issues is to help each other.”
The Daily Beast pointed out that Stone was incorrect about the percentage of Americans who don’t have passports — it’s actually 40%.
In any case, Stone’s comments echoed those that have long been made about Trump. During his first presidential run in 2016, Trump was accused of invoking the leadership style of the world’s most infamous fascists, namely Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator who popularized fascism.
The Hitler comparisons have since followed Trump, with even his 2024 running mate, JD Vance once calling him “reprehensible” and privately comparing him to the Nazi party leader. That is, before Vance became one of Trump’s ardent defenders and was chosen to be his next vice president. The fascist accusations grew in the weeks before the Nov. 5 election, with Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, telling The New York Times that Trump “certainly falls into the general definition of fascist.”
Stone’s view of American ignorance also echoed those of Baldwin, who also is 66, rose to Hollywood stardom at around the same time and who was at the festival to pick …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment