The US President took the acclaimed Hollywood director's comments in a Guardian article out of context - but aroused supporters with the quip
US President Donald Trump has joked that David Lynch’s career in Hollywood is ‘officially over’ after the uber cool and acclaimed film and TV director suggested in an interview that Trump may well be remembered as one of America’s greatest presidents.
Lynch’s comments were made during an interview with The Guardian, and Trump took the opportunity to reflect on them as he gave a trademark rambling hour-long speech, which mentioned space rockets and North Korea, but not of family separations at the southern border.
The Guardian article, published on Saturday, included the fact that Lynch voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary, but that he is also undecided about Trump. ‘He could go down as one of the greatest presidents in history because he has disrupted the thing so much,’ he told the publication. ‘No one is able to counter this guy in an intelligent way.’
According to the article, Lynch thinks that although Trump may not be doing a good job himself, he is opening up a space for other outsiders to potentially win and make progress. ‘Our so-called leaders can’t take the country forward, can’t get anything done. Like children, they are. Trump has shown all this.’
Breitbart News, previously Steve Bannon’s hard-right website, hailed Lynch’s comments without making any mention of the director’s views on Trump’s job performance. It was this version of the article the president noticed, tweeting a link to it on Monday.
Following this, at a rally in support of South Carolina governor Henry McMaster ahead of a runoff election, Trump claimed that ‘plenty’ of people in Hollywood voted for him.
Reading from a printed copy of the article in his left hand, he first made a mistake and got his and Lynch’s names mixed-up, saying: ‘David Lynch could go down as one of the greatest presidents in history. He then added: ‘Of course, there goes his career, right, in Hollywood.’
Trump then quoted the Breitbart article: ‘Veteran filmmaker David Lynch believes President Donald Trump could be remembered as one of the greatest presidents in American history because of the way he has shaken up the political establishment.’
Trump finished the anecdote by saying: ‘There’s David Lynch. Enjoy it because his career in Hollywood is officially over.’