Hollywood veteran and Reagan biopic star Dennis Quaid has delivered a scathing assessment of his own industry, arguing that the film world once known for creative freedom has surrendered to a rigid far-left ideology that punishes anyone who dares to think differently.
During a recent conversation with Pastor Greg Laurie, the 71-year-old actor described a cultural revolution inside Tinseltown that has turned what used to be ordinary, middle-of-the-road views into grounds for professional and social excommunication. According to the Gateway Pundit, Quaids remarks underscored a broader concern on the right that Hollywood has become an enforcement arm of progressive politics rather than a marketplace of ideas.
Quaid pointed to a climate in which positions that were once considered centrist are now smeared as dangerous or extreme, a shift he suggested has been accelerated by the entertainment elites embrace of identity politics and ideological purity tests. According to the New York Post, he and Laurie agreed that the industrys political center of gravity has lurched so far left that even self-described Clinton-era Democrats are being branded as virtual fascists.
The things have gone so extremely, so far left right now, Laurie said during his conversation with Quaid. I saw a podcast it was Bill Maher and Dana Carvey, and Im forgetting the other guys name but anyway, I think it was Dana Carvey said, Ive told my friends in Hollywood Im a Clinton Democrat, and some of them are calling me a Nazi now.
Quaid responded that you cant do that, warning that the casual use of such labels reveals how intolerant the culture has become toward any deviation from progressive dogma. He likened being a Clinton Democrat in todays Hollywood to being a neo-con, on the right side or whatever. What used to be, you cant be anymore.
Pressed to define his own politics, Quaid rejected partisan branding while making clear that his instincts are more aligned with the right than with the modern left. The actor described himself as a common-sense independent, adding that he tends to lean more conservative in my head.
Im just for common sense, is really what I am, Quaid said, framing his views in terms that many traditional voters would recognize as skepticism toward ideological extremism and bureaucratic overreach. That emphasis on common sense stands in sharp contrast to the cultural lefts fixation on ever-narrower speech codes and social engineering.
Later in the podcast, Laurie shifted the conversation to Quaids personal interactions with President Donald Trump, a figure routinely demonized by Hollywoods progressive class. Quaids account cut sharply against the caricature promoted by liberal media and entertainment elites, offering instead a portrait of a leader in touch with ordinary Americans.
He called Trump very surprisingly approachable and very funny, and really genuine. He wouldnt be president if he wasnt genuine, because the people who voted for him, they know that he has their best interest at heart. In those remarks, Quaid echoed the sentiment of millions of working- and middle-class voters who saw Trump as a blunt but authentic advocate against a distant, self-serving establishment.
In a separate interview last year with entrepreneur and podcast host Patrick Bet-David, Quaid went further, explaining why he ultimately decided to leave Los Angeles altogether. His comments painted a picture of a city and an industry that have abandoned open debate in favor of ideological conformity and fear-driven self-censorship.
L.A. has been very, very good to me, but its changed so much, Quaid said, acknowledging the career opportunities the city had provided while lamenting what it has become. When asked what drove that change, he described a cultural environment no longer defined by creative risk-taking but by constant anxiety over violating progressive orthodoxy.
Its not the place that I was there. I dont feel like an exchange of ideas. Its being politically correct all the time, and its kind of like a lot of fear And thats why I moved to Nashville to get back into the center of the country and just feel more at home there. His move to Tennessee mirrors a broader migration of families, entrepreneurs, and artists fleeing coastal liberal enclaves for states that still prize traditional values, lower taxes, and personal freedom.
Quaid argued that Hollywoods very identity has been flipped on its head over the past several decades, transforming from a haven for genuine outsiders into a bastion of establishment leftism. Everything is turned upside down It used to be in Hollywood to be a rebel, to be an outsider not the establishment. That was what was exciting in the 70s. Now to be left is basically the status quo and to be politically correct.
According to Quaid, this ideological hardening has produced a chilling effect on speech, especially during the COVID era when dissent from official narratives was aggressively policed. Agencies, publicists, studios were telling me, Dont say anything about politics or the way you feel because you could lose your job. At least that was the subliminal message.
At the same time, he noted, overt political activism was not only tolerated but encouraged provided it advanced the preferred progressive line. As long as you were talking about Biden or endorsing a Democrat, you were fine. But if you were endorsing a Republican or Trump they dont even want you.
Quaid also reflected on what he views as a deeper political realignment in the United States, one that has scrambled the old stereotypes about which party speaks for the wealthy and which for the working class. It used to be the Republican Party was the party of the rich fat cats Now the corporations are with the Democrats and the regular people are with the Republicans.
Despite his criticisms, the actor emphasized that a healthy republic depends on ideological diversity and robust debate, not enforced unanimity. Dennis Quaid urged Americans across the spectrum to resist the pressure to stay silent, insisting that honest disagreement is not a threat to democracy but its lifeblood.
Dont be afraid to speak up just because its awkward Even if youre a Democrat in a room full of Republicans we need to start talking and arguing with each other about the issues. For Quaid, the real danger lies not in partisan conflict but in the disappearance of the shared middle ground that once allowed Americans to disagree without treating one another as enemies.
You had liberal Republicans and you had conservative Democrats Now its just black and white youve got to be on this side or that and nothing gets done. His warning doubles as an indictment of a cultural and political class that profits from division, and as a call for ordinary citizens the regular people he says now gravitate toward the GOP to reclaim the space for common sense, civil discourse, and genuine pluralism.
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