Actor Jeff Daniels said that Donald Trump's re-election in 2020 would mean the "end of democracy" during an appearance Monday on MSNBC.
Daniels, who is starring on Broadway as Atticus Finch in Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird, stopped by Deadline: White House to share his thoughts on the political climate. Like host Nicolle Wallace and most of the show's guests, Daniels is vehemently anti-Trump and challenged midwestern voters who chose Trump in 2016 to consider if they were for values like decency and respect.
"The big gamble is to go all the way to November 2020, which I agree, and lose? It's the end of democracy," he said.
Wallace, who said Daniels's show brought her to tears, shared a text message from former FBI Director James Comey talking about his attendance of the play.
"There will be no plays about the virtue of this Republican Party and its passion for truth," Comey texted Wallace.
Daniels compared Trump supporters ignoring his deficiencies to a "mob" Sorkin writes about his in adaptation, where people take a break from their conscience.
"That's what I see when I look at Trump's rallies," Daniels said. "At the end of the day ... it's race. This is about the Republican Party, or a wing of it, going this is our last chance to save the party, and if we don't, it's the end of the Republican Party."
Daniels slammed Republican Senators who wouldn't stand up to Trump in his view and called for people to be "heroic, because democracy is at stake."
"Wow," Wallace said.
Daniels has a long career in entertainment that includes roles in such films as Dumb and Dumber, 101 Dalmatians, The Purple Rose of Cairo and The Martian, as well as a starring role in the HBO drama series The Newsroom, which was created by Sorkin.