Harrison Ford Criticizes Donald Trump Over Climate Change Statements: “I Don’t Know of a Greater Criminal in History”

Harrison Ford spoke out strongly against President Donald Trump in an interview with The Guardian this week, just before receiving a conservation leadership award at Chicago’s Field Museum.

The actor, known for his roles in Star Wars and Indiana Jones, criticized Trump’s handling of climate change and his efforts to roll back environmental protections.

“[Trump] doesn’t have any policies, he has whims. It scares the s*** out of me,” Ford said. “The ignorance, the hubris, the lies, the perfidy. [Trump] knows better, but he’s an instrument of the status quo and he’s making money, hand over fist, while the world goes to hell in a hand basket. It’s unbelievable. I don’t know of a greater criminal in history.”

Ford’s remarks came after Trump recently called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” during a speech at the United Nations, warning nations to stick to traditional energy sources and strong borders to remain successful.

The Guardian noted that during his time in office, Trump rolled back clean air and climate protections, halted renewable energy projects, encouraged fossil fuel drilling, fired hundreds of scientists, and restricted government mentions of climate change and emissions.

Ford has been vocal about climate risks for decades. “I knew it was coming, I have been preaching this stuff for 30 years. Everything we’ve said about climate change has come true. Why is that not sufficient that it alarms people that they change behaviors? Because of the entrenched status quo,” he said.

While critical of Trump, Ford also emphasized optimism and human potential. “He’s losing ground because everything he says is a lie. I’m confident we can mitigate against [climate change], that we can buy time to change behaviors, to create new technologies, to concentrate more fully on implementation of those policies.”

“But we have to develop the political will and intellectual sophistication to realize that we human beings are capable of change. We are incredibly adaptive, we are incredibly inventive. If we concentrate on a problem, we can fix it most times.”

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