Jeff Daniels eviscerates Republicans over racism and 'cowardice' under Trump

Emmy Award-winning actor said 'democracy is at stake' and urged Republicans to 'be heroic'

Actor Jeff Daniels has issued a blistering condemnation of Republicans under President Trump, where he argued that democracy in America is at stake if members of his party do not speak out against him.

The Emmy Award-winning star, who has criticised Trump and the GOP on a number of occasions, accused Republicans of cowardice for not challenging him, referring to the “15 or so Republicans in the Senate who are still quiet”.

In the interview with MSNBC, he also called out former GOP senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake (Tennessee and Arizona, respectively) for “going out the back door”. Both were frequent critics of Trump, but chose not to run for re-election in 2018.

“That’s not courage,” Daniels said. “That’s making sure you’ve got a job somewhere after politics. Courage is standing up and being a true patriot like we used to have way back in 1776.”

“Who are the heroes?” he asked. “Who will be the Daniel Ellsberg guy? I'm waiting for that guy ... The people in Congress are worthless to me. Be heroic. Democracy is at stake.”

Daniels, who is starring as Atticus Finch in a Broadway telling of To Kill a Mockingbird, also accused the GOP of using the “race card” to advance its agenda.

“At the end of the day, aside from 'I don’t want to pay taxes,' it’s race,” he said. “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.'”

“And the only way they can do that was to tap the race button and say, 'Go ahead. It’s OK.' And he did, and they did. And that was the only card they had left to play, and they played it, and they aren’t going to go quietly.”