Josh Brolin has sparked fresh debate over Hollywood’s relationship with politics after praising President Donald Trump as a “genius” in marketing while revisiting their past friendship in a new interview tied to his promotion for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
Speaking to a British newspaper, Brolin said he befriended Trump around the 2010 shoot of Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, where the future president filmed a cameo that was later cut. He described the Trump he knew then as “a different guy” and said there was “no greater genius than him in marketing,” crediting Trump’s ability to read public desire and sell a story.
Brolin addressed Trump’s off-hand remarks about staying in power beyond the constitutional two terms, saying he does not fear that scenario. “Even though he says he’s staying forever, it’s just not going to happen,” he argued, adding that if it somehow did, he would deal with that reality then.
He framed Trump’s political strength as a mirror held up to American voters. Brolin said Trump “takes the weakness of the general population and fills it,” describing supporters who see the president as a “mascot” and suggesting the relationship says as much about voters’ need for validation as it does about Trump himself. He also recalled being struck by Trump’s ability to build a $400 million hotel in what he called a “cesspool city” in the late 1970s, then contrasted that earlier entrepreneurial phase with the “unregulated” power he associates with Trump today.
The actor stressed that his current work does not function as a secret tribute to Trump. Playing a fire-and-brimstone priest in Wake Up Dead Man, Brolin said the character was not directly based on the president, even as audiences have drawn parallels to Trump-style populism.
Brolin’s praise for Trump’s marketing skills sits alongside a record of sharp criticism. In 2020, he used Instagram to condemn Trump’s first White House run, rejecting him as any model of “American masculinity” and accusing him of weaponizing conspiracy and division while racking up tens of thousands of documented falsehoods.
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The new comments have been seized on across political media, with one outlet casting the actor as defending a controversial president and others highlighting his attempt to separate personal history from present-day politics. For Brolin, the remarks fold a long-running concern about power and celebrity into an awards-season press tour that now doubles as a case study in how stars talk about Trump in 2025.
