Actor Jon Voight said Thursday that functioning in Hollywood has become progressively more challenging for entertainment industry conservatives, because of a decades-long stream of ‘propaganda.’
The Oscar-winning screen legend, 80, was in Washington to receive the National Medal of Arts from President Donald Trump in an East Room ceremony at the White House. The president called him ‘an actor of astonishing range and depth’ and ‘one of America’s greatest living legends in cinema.’
In a brief interview beforehand at the Trump International Hotel near the White House, Voight praised the National Endowment for the Arts and said he was ‘humbled’ by the honor—but then vented about California culture and his fellow artists who thrive in it.
‘They’re programmed, you see,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘There’s been an attack with propaganda that was inserted over the years, you know. A lot of it in the ’60s.’
‘And people don’t realize that they’ve been undermined. The Democratic Party’s been undermined, overtaken by Marxists, and, you know, and atheists,’ Voight added.
‘They took God out of their platform. Can you imagine that?’ he asked.
Actor Jon Voight unloaded on the Democratic Party before receiving the prestigious National Medal of Arts at the White House on Thursday
Voight, whose 56-year-long acting career spans film, television and stage, blasted Hollywood’s liberal culture as the product of long-simmering ‘propaganda’
Voight was referring to a fracas that erupted on the floor of the 2012 Democratic National Convention after party activists purposely omitted ‘God’ when they drafted the quadrennial platform document.
As media reports threatened to give the DNC a lasting black eye, a vote was called to reinsert the word. When convention chair Antonio Villaraigosa called the roll, he heard an outcry of dissent but declared ‘the ayes have it’ anyway.
A chorus of boos exploded through the sea of Democrats, generating even worse headlines and an estrangement from some people of faith that the party is still working to correct.
President Barack Obama had personally intervened, party officials said at the time, to restore platform language saying Democrats supported giving ‘everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential.’
Instead, the 2012 language had declared that ‘each one of us should be able to go as far as our talent and drive take us.’
Voight called Trump ‘this great president’ but balked at the idea that he was honored because his politics align with Trump’s
Voight blasted the Democratic Party for removing the name of ‘God’ from its party platform, a 2012 event that led to chaos when the convention chair ignored loud dissent and reinserted it
Trump has embraced the evangeligal Christian wing of the Republican Party, whose support he needs in order to survive a second presidential election.
His political rally speeches often include a nod to America’s motto ‘In God we trust,’ and he frequently blasts abortion rights activism as an affront to the belief that children are ‘a sacred gift from almighty God.’
Before entering politics, Trump was a pro-choice New Yorker who gave heavily to Democrats.
Before veering into political statements, Voight said he was ‘very humbled by the attention’ that Thursday’s East Room ceremony would generate.
‘I guarantee you that I’ll be very moved to be in that room, to be in the room with a history of that room and this house, and to be given this medal by the hand of this great president,’ he said. ‘I’ll be very moved.’
Voight said he was ‘very impressed’ with the National Endowment for the Arts, the medal’s sponsoring organization. ‘Just wonderful people,’ he said, ‘who really understand the meaning that art [and] creativity can have in a life.’
‘These guys are good guys,’ he said.
Other National Medal of the Arts recipients on Thursday included bluegrass singer Alison Krauss, philanthropist Sharon Percy Rockefeller, and the musicians of the U.S. military.
Voight is among a small group of veteran Hollywood conservatives who are vocal about their political leanings, successful enough to be insured against what they have claimed is industry-wide blackballing of politically right-of-center performers, directors, producers and writers.
His daughter, actress Angelina Jolie, has been more circumspect about her politics but leans left.
Asked if Trump was honoring him because he’s a conservative, Voight looked puzzled.
‘Anybody who would ask that question of me,’ he said, ‘I would say I think that they don’t know my work. I would say take a look at my work and see what you think. Do you think they should be honoring me?’
‘You’ve got people who don’t know who you are,’ he explained, referring to his 56-year acting career.
‘New generations and different things. It’s okay.’