We've already noted here at the ole Washington Free Beacon that Johnny Depp suggested it's time for an actor to assassinate President Trump, and I'm loathe to dwell on "actor says dumb thing about politics" stories because actors, in the main,* are dumb and prone to saying dumb shit.
But.
I do think it's worth noting two things about this. Thing the first is that Depp did this on foreign soil, which makes it mildly more despicable. It calls to mind the time Green Day recorded a concert DVD of American Idiot in England, a move that prompted The Killers' Brandon Flowers to criticize the pseudo-punk band:
"I just thought it was really cheap," he explained. "To go to a place like England or Germany and sing that song – those kids aren’t taking it the same way that he meant it. And he [Billie Joe Armstrong] knew it."
The Killers’ frontman said he believed that his band’s new album ‘Sam’s Town’ is a much better representation of America.
Flowers was right twice: it was cheap, and Sam's Town is better than American Idiot.
Thing the second is that Depp is invoking the specter of John Wilkes Booth—and meaning it as praise? I mean, look, again: actors are dumb, they say dumb things, we should take them seriously but not literally, etc. But still: he seems aware that, in fact, a president was assassinated by an actor and suggests that it's time to give it another whirl? As if that really worked out so well the first time around? As if this is even modestly appropriate coming as it does just days after a mass-assassination attempt on a group of GOP senators perpetrated by a guy who went nuts just from reading the news? I dunno, man. Seems like a damn fool thing to say.
But then, no one ever accused Johnny Depp of being particularly bright.
*Not in total, just in the main. There are smart actors out there. It's just that they tend to be folks like Richard Dreyfuss, and Richard Dreyfuss doesn't get a ton of headlines because Richard Dreyfuss doesn't run around saying that he should take up the mantle of John Wilkes Booth; he does less provocative things like "going to rallies of politicians he opposes and sitting there, quietly listening."