Comedian Patton Oswalt spends a lot of time getting political on Twitter, but he got a little more candid on Monday about his specific views on Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Like Trump, Oswalt is not a fan of America’s politically correct culture, but he told the Daily Beast that the GOP front-runner’s rhetoric goes way beyond the bounds of telling it like it is.
“He is an ignorant, vengeful, racist a——-e who is going, ‘Oh yeah, me too,'” he said of Trump’s complaints about political correctness. “No, your s—t should get criticized, because there’s no satire to it, and there’s no thought to it.”
“[H]e’s jumping on something retroactively, and going, ‘Oh yeah, me too, I’m also a First Amendment victim,'” he added. “No, you were always horrible. I’m talking about actual progressive satirists being attacked by other less humorous progressives.”
The “Ratatouille” star has live-tweeted almost every presidential debate, Democratic and Republican. He said that one group of candidates provides him with more comedic fodder than the other.
“It’s fun. Not so much the Democratic debate, because that tends to be more sober, reasonable people actually having an adult discussion,” Oswalt said. “But the Republican debates are just unhinged, superstitious, vengeful bullies having at it with each other. And that’s just great comedy.”
Oswalt live-tweeted the Democratic debate on April 14, playfully ripping into both Clinton and Sanders.
“I roadied for Bikini Kill.” — Bernie Sanders #closingstatements #DemDebate
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 15, 2016
“I stole a case of Red Vines from the @broadcity craft service table. They were cool with it.” — Hillary #closingstatements #DemDebate
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 15, 2016
A few Twitter users called Oswalt out for bashing Sanders’ debate performance, both because he has been a vocal Sanders supporter and because some think it is hypocritical for a rich Hollywood star to back a socialist.
I AM. But I’m not “Team Spoiled Tantrum Douchebag” Bernie. https://t.co/WoQpRlGMn0
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 15, 2016
“They think that once you fall into a certain tax bracket or economic level you can only care about people on that level,” he told the Daily Beast. “What, I can’t have empathy or remember where I came from? Or what it was like when I was broke? And maybe want to make it a little easier for people? I don’t know why that is such a leap for people to imagine or understand.”
Even if Sanders loses to Clinton in the primary race, Oswalt said he would be perfectly happy voting for Clinton too, a sentiment he had previously espoused on Twitter.
Guys, we’d be fine with either of these candidates as president. We’d be great. Stop your posturing, both sides. #DemDebate
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 15, 2016
“But I’m also not one of these ‘Bernie or bust’ people,” he said. “I love Bernie’s message, I love what he’s doing. But if Hillary gets the nomination, I’ll vote for Hillary.”
“I’m a reasonable adult,” he added.
