Peter Sarsgaard has given his verdict on why Donald Trump won the US presidential election.
The Republican candidate defeated Kamala Harris following a chaotic campaign dogged by anger, insults and division, winning 51 percent of the popular vote last month.
Sarsgaard, 53, attributed Trump’s victory to a “big problem” with the US electoral system – that exercising the right to vote is optional.
According to data from the University of Florida Election Lab, 90 million people – close to 36 per cent of the country’s voting-eligible population – did not vote in the 2024 election.
Speaking to The Guardian, the Boys Don’t Cry actor said: “A huge percentage of Americans didn’t vote…our big problem here is that voting is optional.”
When asked how it feels to be American right now, Sarsgaard, whose parents are Danish, said he puts on an accent and pretends he’s from Denmark, too.
Discussing why he thought people had voted for Trump, Sarsgaard explained: “I think it comes down to ignorance, a lack of education, the government not caring about the issues affecting a lot of the people in our country who are living in a way that is more hand-to-mouth.”
The Shattered Glass star added he thinks Trump supporters see “somebody who is promising something significant” in the businessman.
“He looks like the type of person who can change things: he’s a large, rich, white bloat of a man,” he said.
“People blame DC – and he’s the guy who’s promising to take an axe to it.”
Sarsgaard also claimed Trump would be “nothing” without the attention of the media. “Outrage is one of the main fuels of news journalism,” he said. “Violence and outrage. Well, he’s got all of that.”
It comes shortly after Succession star Brian Cox revealed he will “try to spend as much time here” in the UK as he can following the results of the US presidential election.
Asked if the result has made him lose faith in people, he told The Guardian: “No, it doesn’t make me lose faith in people. It just makes me realise people are stupid.
“We’re in for a pretty rough old four years coming up.”
Speaking about whether he will stay in the US, he said: “I don’t know. I’ve got to because my sons are there. But I’ll try to spend as much time here (UK) as I can.”
Elsewhere, Eva Longoria was forced to confirm she hadn’t fled the US due to the result of the presidential election after relocating to Spain.
”I didn’t leave because of the political environment. I left because my work took me there,” she said, adding that speculation she had relocated because of politics was “divisive”.
“We can’t be that way right now,” Longoria said.
Following the results of the election, the Desperate Housewives star admitted that she wasn’t surprised to see a Trump victory.
“The shocking part is not that he won,” she told Marie Claire. “It’s that a convicted criminal who spews so much hate could hold the highest office.”
