Mark Ruffalo, an actor and vocal Kamala Harris supporter, spoke candidly about the aftermath of the Vice President’s election defeat in a Sunday speech. The “Avengers” star -who had long been on record as supporting the Vice President and Senator Tim Walz, with whom she was running-opened up and said that the Democratic Party had suffered a hard loss during election time.
“We got our a**es kicked. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but sometimes you have to spend a little time in bed before it happens. It was hard to come here, honestly,” Ruffalo said, speaking to the crowd at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California’s Bill of Rights Awards.
The actor’s words were live with the ones attending him because he spoke directly to the collective pain and fear that many people experienced with the eventual confirmation of the electoral results by their congressional seat representatives. “The fact that we’re here says a great deal about what we all care about in this life,” he continued. “And I want to thank you all for your values and the sorrow and the dread that you most sharply may be experiencing too, because I know I am.”
Psychological Impact Of The Loss
Ruffalo didn’t shy away from the gravity of the issue. We suffered a great loss, it’s a loss that touches deeply on so much of what we’ve worked for and we’ve hoped for and dreamed of for such a long time now,” he said. It was not just a loss for Harris and her team, but it was also a defeat for progressive ideals that she had been presenting for so long. The defeat-nothing to Trump’s greater landslide in all key battleground states-was not a pretty one, given that it preceded the partisan violence sweeping the nation after November 3.
These were words that would let those who had spent hours toiling for the Harris campaign know that their efforts mattered. To Hollywood stars, Ruffalo was speaking to the campaigners as he showed his support for Harris. Ruffalo had appeared in a campaign advert with his fellow Avengers co-stars, namely Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, and Paul Bettany, in an effort to push the Harris ticket into people’s consciousness. This was a tradition he used during her presidential campaign ride.
Reaction Of Hollywood To Harris’ Defeat
Among many disapproving words from Hollywood celebrities for Harris, Mark Ruffalo‘s was but one reflection of the disappointment as Harris’s electoral defeat unfolded. Those Hollywood stars who had campaigned hard for her, now began to deliberate the general implication of the landslide victory by the Republicans. The consequences of President-elect Trump’s win at the same time, in which the Congress also turned in favour with the win by the Republican Party, sent shivers among the Democratic voters regarding the party’s future and the party leadership.
One of them is Adam McKay, the director of “The Big Short” and a self-professed progressive for a long time, who said he would leave the Democratic Party. McKay slammed the deepening disillusion with the direction of the party and promised to join either the Green Party or the Working Class Families Party. This is a shifting allegiance by influential voices, a sign of internal consciousness among progressives after the elections.
Still gazing at the loss, Ruffalo underlined the call to action as despair sets in. “Action is the very thing that pushes back despair,” he said as he called upon those who stood with Harris and the Democratic agenda to keep pushing on. This he underscored with a sense of togetherness when he said, “those who want to do us harm, we’re related to them too, and they’re related to us. We’re all part of that family, they’ve just gone wrong and forgotten who they are.”
Ruffalo ended his speech in optimism when he implored the audience to remain engaged and continue fighting for their principle. I have felt demoralization and despair so many times along the road of all of this, and the message I keep getting is if you’re losing hope, you’re not giving enough and you’re not doing enough,” he said.
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