Famed documentarian Ken Burns shared a powerful warning about re-electing former President Donald Trump during his recent commencement speech at Brandeis University, referring to Trump as "the opioid of all opioids."
Burns also cautioned graduates that "there is no real choice this November, only the perpetuation, however flawed or feeble you might perceive it, of our fragile 249-year-old experiment or the entropy that will engulf and destroy us if we take the other route."
He added:
"The presumptive Republican nominee is the opioid of all opioids, an easy cure or what some believe is the solution to our myriad pains and problems."
"When in fact with him, you end up re-enslaved with an even bigger problem, a worse affliction and addiction, 'a bigger delusion,' James Baldwin would say, the author and finisher of our national existence, our national suicide as Mr. Lincoln prophesies."
"Do not be seduced by easy equalization. There is nothing equal about this equation. We are at an existential crossroads in our political and civic lives."
"This is a choice that could not be clearer."
You can hear what Burns said in the video below.
Many concurred with Burns' assessment.
This isn't the first time Burns has gone viral for criticizing Trump during a commencement speech.
He previously addressed graduates at Stanford University’s 2016 commencement, stressing that Trump's candidacy signaled rock-bottom in the history of American politics.
Though Burns never actually uttered Trump's name, it was clear to whom he referred to when he described the candidate who “insults veterans, threatens a free press, mocks the handicapped, denigrates women, immigrants and all Muslims” and “took more than a day to remember to disavow a supporter who advocates white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan."
Burns went on to characterize Trump as “an infantile, bullying man” and ”a spoiled, misbehaving child." He said that electing Trump to office "“would be like asking a newly minted car driver to fly a 747.”
Clearly, he'd rather we not go through that again.
