Actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner has warned of a danger to world democracy if Donald Trump won the US presidential election.
Former president Donald Trump is the favourite to win the Republican nomination later this month, despite a number of ongoing court cases, which would bring him closer to a rematch against president Joe Biden at the November election.
“The question at this election is: do we want to continue 249 years of self-rule and American democracy,” 76-year-old Reiner told the Guardian.
“Or do we want to turn it over to somebody like Donald Trump who has said that he wants to destroy the constitution, go after his political enemies and turn America into an autocracy?
“We see autocracy making its move around the world. And so if we crumble, there’s a danger that democracy crumbles around the world.”
It comes as Reiner promotes his new documentary titled God And Country about the rise of Christian nationalism, which he notes has infiltrated US politics and the Republican Party to such a degree that it could bring about the end of democracy in the US – and the world.
Reiner said he needs the film to “reach as many people as we can before the election”.
“It’s not for the hardcore but we’re hoping to reach other Christians who might have been drawn into this unwittingly,” he said.
The veteran actor and filmmaker said the foundation for the storming of the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, was Christian nationalism “because finally, they had found somebody like Donald Trump who they could funnel their ideas through”.
Reiner said his veteran TV star father, Carl Reiner, who died in 2020 aged 98, would never have believed Trump would be back again “like a zombie or a cockroach” – after he won the 2016 election.
Currently, Reiner is filming the sequel to his 1984 hit Spinal Tap, with star guests including Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John.
He confirmed, as with the original, the dialogue will all be improvised – including for Beatles star Sir Paul.
“I told him, just don’t worry about it, you just talk and, whatever happens, we go on for ever. I’m not going to use the whole thing, just whatever the thing is that works,” Reiner added.
