Actor Dennis Quaid came out on Tuesday with support for former President Donald Trump in his bid to retake the White House in 2024.
Quaid offered this tentative support while sitting for an interview with Piers Morgan to promote his new film, “Reagan,” in which he portrays another Republican president, Ronald Reagan.
At a point early on in the interview, Morgan and Quaid connected over their shared appreciation of Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s.
“I think in my lifetime, Reagan was the best president, because he managed to be true to his conservative values, but he managed to cross the aisle better than anybody else,” Morgan said.
Quaid went on to say Reagan “was my favorite president as well.” The actor said he felt similarities between the era in which Reagan was elected and the modern day.
Later on in the interview, Quaid noted he has voted for presidential candidates on both sides of the political aisle, prompting Morgan to ask, “What do you think of Trump?”
“I think I’m going to vote for him, yeah, in the next election,” Quaid said with some hemming and hawing.
“Really?” Morgan asked.
“Yes, I am,” Quaid said.
“Are you ready for the blowback?” the news anchor asked.
Quaid went on to say he was “ready not to vote for Trump” until he saw the way the former president and prospective Republican 2024 nominee has been treated unfairly in a way that goes beyond normal politics, including with efforts to criminally prosecute the former president.
A jury in New York is currently deliberating whether Trump broke any laws by classifying payments to enforce a 2016 nondisclosure contract with adult film actress Stephanie Clifford (who goes by Stormy Daniels)—to prevent her from going public with allegations that they had an extramarital encounter—as a legal expense. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office contends that this payment was done to help Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and that by classifying the payment for the nondisclosure contract as a “legal expense,” he essentially engaged in a scheme to illegally conceal a campaign contribution to his own campaign.
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“I see a weaponization of our justice system and a challenge to our constitution, us as Americans, that I don’t think we’re going to have,” Quaid said. “You know, Trump is the most investigated person probably in the history of the world, and they haven’t been able to really get him on anything.”
Morgan went on to ask whether liking Trump was a prerequisite to vote for him. Quaid replied that there were things Trump had said during his 2016 and 2020 campaigns that caused him discomfort, “But as president, the only thing I liked about Trump was everything he did.”
Quaid credited Trump with defeating ISIS in “three weeks,” standing up to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and reshaping the U.S. diplomatic stance toward China.
“People might call him [Trump] an a–hole, but he’s my a–hole,” Quaid added.
Dennis Quaid’s brother and fellow actor, Randy Quaid, has already been an outspoken Trump supporter for years, going as far back as his 2016 campaign.
