Larry David compared President Trump to communist dictator Joseph Stalin during a wide-ranging interview with the comedian and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star published Saturday.
The creator of both “Curb” and fellow hit TV series “Seinfeld” slammed Mr. Trump while speaking to The New York Times about subjects including the president’s response to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic and the Democrats seeking to unseat him.
“The man has not one redeeming quality,” Mr. David said Mr. Trump, The Times reported. “You could take some of the worst dictators in history and I’m sure that all of them, you could find one decent quality. Stalin could have had one decent quality, we don’t know!”
Mr. David, 72, complained elsewhere in the interview about remarks Mr. Trump has made recently during the regular press briefings held by the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
“That’s the hardest thing about the day, watching what comes out of this guy’s mouth,” said Mr. David. “It turns you into a maniac because you’re yelling at the television. All of a sudden, you find yourself screaming, like I used to do on the streets of New York, pre-’Seinfeld,’ when I saw happy couples on the street.”
Mr. David also told The Times that he thinks Sen. Bernard Sanders, the Democratic presidential hopeful he has parodied repeatedly in comedy skits on “Saturday Night Live,” should end his White House campaign and let rival candidate Joseph R. Biden run unchallenged as the party’s presumptive nominee against Mr. Trump.
“I feel he should drop out,” Mr. David said about Mr. Sanders, Vermont independent, The Times reported. “Because he’s too far behind. He can’t get the nomination. And I think, you know, it’s no time to fool around here. Everybody’s got to support Biden.”
Previously the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, Mr. Sanders has since taken a backseat to Mr. Biden after finishing behind the former vice president in several state primaries.
Mr. Sanders said earlier this week that he believes “there is a path” for him to remain in the race. More recently, Mr. Biden revealed Friday that he notified Mr. Sanders that he has begun searching for a running mate to prepare for potentially running against Mr. Trump in November.
Mr. David poked fun at Mr. Trump — and to some extent anti-Trump Hollywood— earlier this year in an episode of “Curb” where his curmudgeonly character would don the president’s trademark “Make America Great Again” baseball cap to serve as a “people repellent” when he wanted to be left alone.
More recently, he filmed a public service announcement released by California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office this week urging people to obey the statewide stay-at-home order issued by the Democrat to help slow the spread of COVID-19, the contagious and potentially deadly respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
White House estimates indicate that between 100,000 and 240,000 people within the country may die as a result of contracting COVID-19, the Trump administration acknowledged earlier this week.
Historians have placed Stalin’s death toll in the millions.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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