Hollywood Reacts to Prospect of Second Trump Presidency: “A Sign of Deep Nihilism”

Let the Democrat dooming begin.

Hollywood went to bed on Tuesday night dreading the prospect of Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election as the former president began racking up state after state. But there were perhaps still hopes of a 2020 style reversal on Wednesday morning, if the big swing states in the much-vaunted ‘Blue Wall’ came through. Alas, the hopes were dashed after the AP called Pennsylvania for Trump and all but guaranteed he would return to the Oval Office.

Despite no official declaration of the presidential race being over, Trump wasted no time in declaring victory, hitting the stage at his victory party at Mar-a-Lago at 2:30 a.m. ET. In his typical meandering and blustering style, the former president claimed a “magnificent” victory.

The reaction to Trump’s inevitable victory was swift on social media, even before the pivotal state of Pennsylvania was called, with prominent Democrats and Hollywood figures lamenting the state of affairs and making clear their fears for the future under a second Trump administration.

Oscar-nominated filmmaker and activist Adam McKay didn’t hold back on X, delivering an excoriating take down of the Democrat establishment. “Who would have guessed lying about Biden’s cognitive health for 2 yrs, refusing to do an open convention for a new nominee, never mentioning public healthcare & embracing fracking, the Cheneys & a yr long slaughter of children in Gaza wouldn’t be a winning strategy? Anyone with half a brain?” McKay wrote.

The Don’t Look Up director added, “But I thought liberals’ whole thing is being smart? It’s not? They actually just blindly cheer the parade of rickety optics wrapped up in New York Times fonts that is the modern Dem Party? Well at least it’s time for the dusty hacks & careerists to spread their feathers wide post election and blame Russia and third party candidates. That should fix things.”

David Sirota, a journalist and former Bernie Sanders adviser who co-wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Don’t Look Up with McKay, was his usual blunt self on social media, tweeting, “This is a very bad night. Some of us spent years warning Dems to take working-class politics more seriously & to not tout neocons. We did so in hopes of avoiding this & yet we were vilified as traitors by Dem elites & liberal pundits. There’s a lesson here.”

An exasperated Christina Applegate tweeted, “Why? Give me your reasons why????? My child is sobbing because her rights as a woman may be taken away. Why?And if you disagree , please unfollow me.”

Black List founder Franklin Leonard was particularly active on social media on election night. Among his tweets, Leonard wrote on X, “Too many of y’all appear to have forgotten how absolutely wild the Trump years were.” And early on Wednesday morning he tweeted, “I don’t have certainty about what just happened, and I’m reasonably certain no one else does either.”

David Simon, the creator of The Wire, Treme and The Deuce, aimed his fury at the X platform in particular. On Tuesday night, Simon tweeted that “hellsite” X would become “a rancid cesspool of lies and disinformation tonight and through the next several days. It was purchased and restructured for this precise purpose. Expect nothing less than a projectile vomiting of hype, falsehoods and petulant rage. And, of course, keep moving forward and toward the light. We can do this.” On Wednesday morning, Simon had seemingly announced he was leaving the platform: “Dormant account under present management of this social media site. Will return to post any subsequent platform, but otherwise unmonitored. God bless us all. Even the scrotes and shitheels.”

Simon’s longtime artistic collaborator Wendell Pierce was also active on election night. The Wire and Treme actor was in a sobering mood, and among his many posts, he tweeted, “Elections have consequences. The Supreme Court will be changed for a generation. I’ll never see a moderate court again in my lifetime. Alito and Thomas will step down and Trump will appoint 40 year old partisans to the bench. The damage he is about to inflict on our institutions the next 2 years will be irreparable.”

A distraught Yvette Nicole Brown tweeted about Sherrod Brown losing his senate race in Ohio as well as Trump’s dominant win. The Community actress tweeted: “Sherrod Brown losing in Ohio is a lost to Ohio and our nation. This is a disgrace at a level I can’t even quantify. My home state of Ohio chose a criminal. And it looks like this nation is choosing a criminal. AmeriKKKa is showing out tonight. Just showing out.”

John Cusack was similarly appalled, writing on X, “The fact that the country would choose to destroy itself by voting in a convicted felon rapist and Nazi is a sign of deep nihilism. To put it mildly.”

Philip Pullman, the British author behind the His Dark Materials books that have been adapted into movies and series, wrote on X, “Goodbye, America. It was nice knowing you.”

The Emmy-winning actor, and occasional pro wrestler, Paul Walter Hauser joked on X: “My breakfast was a package of Double Stuffed Oreos and a cigarillo, for those considering a wellness check.”

Former Desus and Mero co-host Desus Nice tweeted about the result, “America having one of those gender reveals that starts a wildfire that burns for like 30 days.”

Comedian and actor Travon Free tweeted, “Let’s make sure the @nytimes gets all the credit they deserve for what happened tonight. They worked really hard to make Trump look like a normal viable alternative to Kamala and well…”

Glee star Kevin McHale was very despondent and fearful of what a Trump victory meant. “Supreme Court gone for the rest of my lifetime. Ultra-conservative evangelical bigotry, xenophobia, racism is the mandate,” McHale tweeted.