George Clooney pleads with urbanites and progressives to keep fighting for red states, like his home state of Kentucky

George Clooney
(AP photo by Grant Pollard)

"Growing up as a Democrat in Kentucky helped George Clooney get used to fighting impossible battles. With the presidential election fast approaching, the activist and actor says progressives should not give up on fighting for deep red states—even if the challenge seems insurmountable," Anthony Breznican reports for Vanity Fair.

Clooney said real change takes a long time and that people must stick with it even through repeated defeats. "Of course you fight the losing fights, and of course you go into them fully expecting that you’re going to lose this fight," Clooney told Breznican. "But that’s how democracy works. You fight it, and fight it, and at some point it changes."

The current political division in the U.S. is as bad as Clooney has ever seen it, he says; internet misinformation, structural inequalities, and anger are at the root of it, and President Trump helped fan the flames: "The truth of the matter is, the United States has always been a tinderbox. We’ve always had a portion of the country that has issues, anger, and, in general, we usually have presidents who try not to foment that anger. We try to find common ground and peace . . . [Now] we have someone who is taking a blowtorch to it. You’re seeing 35 percent of the country getting furious. When we have someone not like that, things will calm down somewhat."