Comedian Louis C.K. urges his fans not to vote for Donald Trump, in a lengthy email. Photo / Getty
Every Saturday since the end of January, comedian Louis C.K. has emailed his fans to announce each subsequent episode of his new show Horace and Pete. This week's came with a lengthy post-script plea.
"Please stop it with voting for Trump," he said at the end of Saturday's email. "It was funny for a little while. But the guy is Hitler. . . . Hitler was just some hilarious and refreshing dude with a weird comb over who would say anything at all."
The email may be a marketing ploy for the new show, but that isn't Louis C.K.'s style. (In fact, he inveighs against marketing in favor of establishing a more genuine connection with his audience.)
Instead, the email seems like a genuine plea - a more than 1,400-word plea for fans not to vote for the leading Republican presidential candidate. Trump is "dangerous," "insane," and a "bigot," he said.
The letter is long, but we broke down the best parts for you. Here, take a look:
Louis C.K. was quick to defend himself against partisan attacks: He's not advocating for Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, he said.
"I'm an idiot and I'm sure a bunch of you are very annoyed by this," he said toward the end of the email. His opposition has nothing to do with politics, he said. It has to do with who Trump is. In fact, he said he would welcome a conservative president.
"I wish the next president was a conservative only because we had Obama for eight years and we need balance. And not because I particularly enjoy the conservative agenda. I just think the government should reflect the people," he said.
He said in a nation with two thriving and opposing ideologies, a push and pull is healthy: "It always made sense that everyone gets a president they like for a while and then hates the president for a while." But that balance depends on conservatives putting up a "good" candidate, he said.
"Trump is not that. He's an insane bigot. He is dangerous," he said.
Trump's attacks on speech are troublesome to Louis C.K. - particularly the Republican presidential candidate's promise to make it easier to sue newspapers.
"I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money," Trump said last month.
"He has promised to decimate the first amendment," he said in response to a not entirely accurate version of Trump's comments.
"I'm saying this now because if he gets in there we won't be able to criticize him anymore," the comedian said.
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Nihilism may explain Trump's surge. And Louis C.K. gets that.
The whole field seems like "soft criminal opportunists," he said. "The whole game feels rigged and it's not going anywhere but down anymore. I feel that way sometimes."
A vote for Trump is a way of sticking it to the system, he said. It's also unhealthy.
"It's a version of national suicide. Or it's like a big hit off of a crack pipe," he said.
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Trump supporters owe it to their fellow Americans to at least "know and understand who he is," Louis C.K. said. "Spend one hour on google and just read it all."
Listen to respected Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, he said. The same McCain whose time as a prisoner of war Trump belittled. ("He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured.") The same McCain who criticized Trump only to have the Republican presidential front-runner warn him "to be very careful." When asked by CBS News's chief White House correspondent Major Garrett what he meant, Trump cryptically added: "He'll find out."
Why did Trump deride McCain's imprisonment? Simple, Louis C.K. explains.
"He said it because he's a bully and every bully knows that when you enter a new school yard, you go to the toughest most respected guy on the yard and you punch him in the nose," he said. "If you are still standing after, you're the new boss."
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In concluding his long post-script, Louis C.K. made clear that his concerns have little to do with Trump's politics and more to do with his character.
"Trump is a messed up guy with a hole in his heart that he tries to fill with money and attention," Louis C.K. said. "He can never ever have enough of either and he'll never stop trying. He's sick. Which makes him really really interesting."
Give Trump another show, let him expand his Trump-themed real estate, Louis C.K. said. "But please stop voting for him."
