The Young and The Restless star Eric Braeden criticized Donald Trump during a CNN interview early Friday for the president-elect’s response to the California wildfires.
Braeden, 83, was interviewed on the network after he posted a dramatic video on his Instagram account Thursday showing a wall of flame approaching his home of over 40 years. “Well, we’re going to have to evacuate our house,” Braeden can be heard saying in the clip. “Okay, everyone, you see this beautiful area go up in flames. Unbelievable.”
Soon after, he was speaking to Laura Coates on CNN.
Braeden said the approaching fire had scared “the living daylights” out of him despite seeing many other fires over the decades he’s lived in the area.
“It’s the price we pay for living in this beautiful area,” he said. “California’s a fantastic state. It’s one of the most productive states in the nation—not according to the orange idiot who will take over on the 25th of January or whatever, but it is truly one of the most productive states ever in the United States.”
Braeden did not explicitly name Trump—whose inauguration takes place on Jan. 20—but found himself returning to the theme when Coates asked what he felt the government response should be to the disaster.
“To be very frank with you, I think everyone is really trying to do their damn best OK,” he answered. “And some idiot—the orange idiot—went on television … and claimed all kinds of things about [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom and California and the water distribution. All nonsense.”
Trump has repeatedly blamed Newsom for the wildfire crisis and called for his resignation, but a spokesperson for the Democrat has dismissed Trump’s criticisms as being based on “pure fiction” and accused the president-elect of “playing politics.”
A palatial home in Altadena goes up in flames. / Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
Braeden was similarly unhappy with the attacks.
“What some of these characters are now disseminating on one particular network and on some podcasts is outrageous and very damaging to our nation,” he said on CNN.
He also extolled the virtues of the U.S., drawing on his experience of growing up in the ruins of Germany after World War II.
“This is a great nation, trust me, I know whereof I speak—I come from a nation that believed in fascist ideology for a while,” Braeden said. “And we certainly will not want to go into that again. But we are close to it because people want to simplify complex problems. The essence of fascism is to simplify complex problems and feed people who don’t have time to read some bullsh–t.”
