Dick Van Dyke expresses relief at not facing Trump’s second term
Dick Van Dyke shared his thoughts regarding Donald Trump’s anticipated second term in office.
A week after backing Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, the legendary actor provided a brief response to a paparazzi inquiry about whether Trump could “make America great again.”
“Luckily, I won’t be here to see the four years,” Van Dyke stated in a video published by the Daily Mail, which captured him and his wife Arlene Silver exiting a vehicle. The actor’s 99th birthday is on December 13.
When asked if he feels America’s future looks “bright,” Van Dyke replied: “I hope you’re right.”
On November 4, the day before the election, Van Dyke made a rare appearance on social media to declare his support for Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. His post was captioned, “VOTE!!! @kamalaharris @vp @kamalahq.”
During the video, he quoted Rod Serling’s “A Most Non-Political Speech” from “The Twilight Zone,” stating that “I feel it holds as much weight today, if not more, than it did back then.”
“Hatred is not the norm. Prejudice is not the norm. Mistrust, dislike, jealousy, scapegoating — none of these define humanity’s essence. They are viruses that corrupt our spirit,” Van Dyke recited. “They are the cancers of the soul. Given their existence, does that mean they must remain? I believe not.”
He continued with the speech: “To those who assert that the inequality among humans is a necessary curse, we must respond firmly that, while it is evil, it is not inevitable. We demonstrate this by reaffirming our beliefs and trusting in our convictions.”
He concluded: “We should feel ashamed to exist without that triumph.”
After his reading, Van Dyke remarked on how much has changed since 1964, though “not as much as Martin Luther King envisioned, but it’s a beginning.”
Van Dyke had previously recited the speech during a 1964 Religious Witness for Human Dignity event, almost a year after King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.
This year, the “Mary Poppins” actor earned the title of the oldest recipient of a Daytime Emmy Award, winning for his guest role on “Days of Our Lives.”
