Aurora Starchild
Harrison Ford spent most of his career in the spotlight without voicing his political views. That all changed one evening when he was on Jimmy Kimmel Live. It was February 2020, and Ford’s new movie, The Call of the Wild, was about to come out. Kimmel held up a fake poster with Trump quotes and Ford laughed, calling Trump a “Son of a b****.”
Videos by Rare
Kimmel’s Call of the Wild poster mockup was pretending to quote Trump by using a real Trump quote. It said the movie was “the best call ever,” referencing the infamous Ukraine call with Volodymyr Zelensky that led to Trump’s first impeachment.
“That’s the first thing that son of a bitch has done for me — ever,” laughed Ford.
So, is Ford a Trump supporter? Probably not. Firstly, because he’s identified as a lifelong Democrat. And secondly, well, Harrison Ford has actively campaigned against Trump.
Let’s take a look at Harrison Ford’s political views.
Advocacy for Tibet
In 1995, Harrison Ford testified to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee to support the Dalai Lama and Tibet’s [unsuccessful] plea for independence from China.
In 2007, he narrated a documentary about the Dalai Lama Renaissance. The full-length film documented the Dalai Lama as he met with 40 Western thought leaders, referred to as the “Synthesis” group. Together, they brainstormed ways to solve the world’s problems.
Views on Iraq War
In 2003, rumors spread that Ford supported Bush and his Iraq policy. Ford’s response to this, per CNN, was that he was “appalled by the idea” of the public thinking he supported any form of war. This came just weeks after ABC [falsely?] reported that Ford supported Bush. Soon after, news spread globally that Ford was about to star in a film about the Iraq war, titled No True Glory: The Battle for Fallujah. However, that didn’t happen.
Stance on Gun Control
Harrison Ford has spoken out about violence in Hollywood, although it was in a subtle way. He is quoted as saying, “I think American films right now are suffering from an excess of scale. Lots of movies we’re seeing now are more akin to video games than stories about human life and relationships. Twelve – to 20 -year-olds are maybe the largest economic force in the US movie business. I’m not a very nostalgic person — but I enjoy a good story.”
Ford has also done work with The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, according to IndexArticles.com.
Harrison Ford and Donald Trump
In 2005, Ford responded to a compliment from Trump with a snide response. The New York Times had quoted Trump as saying that he enjoyed films featuring heroic presidents. He listed Air Force One as one of his favorites.
“My favorite was Harrison Ford on the plane,” said Trump. “I love Harrison Ford — and not just because he rents my properties. He stood up for America.”
But Ford wouldn’t have any of it.
“It’s a movie,” he said during a Star Wars news conference. He turned to the camera and addressed Trump directly. “Donald, it was a movie. It’s not like this in real life, but how would you know?”
Advocacy for Climate Change
Ford seems to be very heated about issues involving public dissociation of fact and fiction. For instance, climate change is at the top of that list. In fact, circling back to Ford’s Jimmy Kimmel interview, Ford is a staunch advocate for climate change awareness. He vehemently opposes anyone who actively works to reverse climate protections or to skew scientific knowledge.
“Stop giving power to people who don’t believe in science, or worse than that, pretend they don’t believe in science for their own self-interest,” Ford said in an impassioned speech at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco.
Ford also criticized Trump for pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord.
In October 2020, Ford told Time that world leaders need to be taking a stand to protect the planet. “The climate crisis is real — the weight of scientific evidence is overwhelming… but evidence can be ignored, it can be manipulated,” he said. “Leaders who choose to make climate change a divisive issue do it to protect the entrenched economic interests who profit from behavior that destroys our planet. It’s selfish. It’s short-sighted. It needs to stop… This s*** is going to kill us.”
Ford has also fervently supported Greta Thunberg for her activism.
Harrison Ford and Barack Obama
On NBC, Harrison Ford once applauded President Obama for “doing a wonderful job.” In the same interview, Ford blamed the media for perpetuating narratives that led to political divisiveness.
Work with The Lincoln Project
Ford, along with Star Wars co-star Mark Hamill, worked with the anti-Trump, Republican organization The Lincoln Project during the 2020 election cycle. He narrated a video defending Dr. Anthony Fauci. This was in the midst of Trump’s vilification of Fauci because of his COVID-19 stances.
Harrison Ford and Joe Biden
Harrison Ford endorsed Joe Biden for President in November 2020. It was the first open presidential endorsement Ford had ever made.
Ford candidly discussed his political views as “centrist,” begging voters to vote for Biden so that he could take action to protect the climate. The actor emphasized that we needed a centrist to appeal to the most people because politics had become so divisive.
“I think it’s come to the point where we gotta start talking politics,” Ford told CBS. But we gotta talk about it in a positive way. We gotta regain the middle ground. We’re in these ideological enclaves. But the truth is in the middle. Progress is made in the middle.”
