{"id":89161,"date":"2017-02-13T01:10:43","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T06:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=89161"},"modified":"2017-02-13T01:10:43","modified_gmt":"2017-02-13T06:10:43","slug":"in-emotional-speech-streep-renews-harsh-criticism-of-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/02\/13\/in-emotional-speech-streep-renews-harsh-criticism-of-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"In emotional speech, Streep renews harsh criticism of Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u201cYes,<\/a>
\u201cYes, I am the most overrated, over-decorated and currently, I am the most over-berated actress … of my generation,\u201d she said to laughs. (Photo: Golden Globes\/ Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK \u2013In an emotional speech by turns tearful, defiant and humorous, Meryl Streep doubled down on her harsh criticism of President Donald Trump, and spoke of having become a target since she first took him on in her Golden Globes speech in January.<\/p>\n

Addressing a cheering audience at a fundraising gala for the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT group, Streep referred to Trump’s tweet after her Globes speech, in which he called the celebrated actress \u201coverrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I am the most overrated, over-decorated and currently, I am the most over-berated actress … of my generation,\u201d she said to laughs.<\/p>\n

She noted that she wished she could simply stay home \u201cand load the dishwasher\u201d rather than take a podium to speak out \u2013 but that \u201cthe weight of all these honours\u201d she’s received in her career compelled her to speak out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s terrifying to put the target on your forehead,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it sets you up for all sorts of attacks and armies of brownshirts and bots and worse, and the only way you can do it is if you feel you have to. You have to! You don’t have an option. You have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Streep did not elaborate on the type of attacks she may have been subjected to since her Globes speech, or from whom. The Associated Press reached out to her publicist for details. The term \u201cbrownshirts\u201d was first used to describe an early Nazi militia.<\/p>\n

Streep was receiving the group’s National Ally for Equality Award, and was the huge draw of the evening. Introduced by filmmaker Ken Burns, she took the stage to a thunderous ovation. After a humorous defence of her remarks in her Globes speech that football and martial arts weren’t arts, which had drawn some criticism \u2013 she clarified that she indeed likes football, too \u2013 the actress praised the organization for defending LGBT rights, and spoke about two teachers \u2013 one transgender, one gay \u2013 who had influenced her childhood in suburban New Jersey.<\/p>\n

She then spoke about how early cultures had always put men at the top, but at some point in the 20th century, women, people of colour and other minorities began achieving their deserved rights. Progress was fast, and so now, \u201cWe shouldn’t be surprised that fundamentalists, of all stripes, everywhere, are … fuming,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Turning to Trump, she said: \u201cBut if we live through this precarious moment \u2013 if his catastrophic instinct to retaliate doesn’t lead us to nuclear winter \u2013 we will have much to thank this president for. Because he will have woken us up to how fragile freedom really is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The country has now learned, she said, \u201chow the authority of the executive, in the hands of a self-dealer, can be wielded against the people, and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The whip of the executive can, through a Twitter feed, lash and intimidate, punish and humiliate, delegitimize the press and all of the imagined enemies with spasmodic regularity and easily provoked predictability.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end, Streep made a passionate call for religious liberty \u2013 the right, as she said,\u201d to live our lives with God or without Her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us have the human right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think people were mad,\u201d she closed, \u201cwhen they thought the government was coming after their guns, wait until you see when they try to take away our happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Streep, 67, received a record 20th Oscar nomination in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2013In an emotional speech by turns tearful, defiant and humorous, Meryl Streep doubled down on her harsh criticism …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":89162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106,483],"tags":[15104,14087],"class_list":["post-89161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","category-politics","tag-meryl-streep","tag-president-donald-trump","mauthors-jocelyn-noveck","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}