Richard Gere says US is in 'darkest moment' he's experienced

Richard Gere is warning the Democratic Party as to what could happen when they stop paying attention.

When speaking at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway on Tuesday, the 76-year-old actor reflected on the state of the United States and how it got there, noting, "we're living in the darkest moment that I've experienced on this planet" under President Donald Trump.

"How is this even possible? Because we went to sleep. We didn't care. We didn't vote. We didn't really listen," he said. "Of course, I didn't vote for this guy, but I didn't do enough work to skillfully convince people around me, close to me, not close to me, that this was insane to elect this person as President of the United States."

He went on to call President Trump a "maniac," who has "dismantled almost everything that was good about the U.S. government and the U.S. people." He admits that while the country "has never been a perfect place," it has always been able to be "self-corrective."

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Later in his monologue, Gere reflected on his recent visit to the concentration camp Dachau, using it as a warning for "how quickly our world can be taken from us if we fall asleep," urging everyone to "see the cues."

"We can't sit back and go, 'Ah, life is good. I'm fine. You know, I've got food. I got money. Blah blah blah. I got my house. I got another car. I'm thinking about this. I'm OK. I know he's a bad guy, but it's OK,'" Gere said. "But it's not OK. It's not OK. It's never OK."

"We have to see the cues, this dictatorship of the monsters, how quickly it happens," he added. "We have to be vigilant."

The "Pretty Woman" actor previously spoke to Variety in December 2025, after hearing the Dalai Lama, who he called a close friend, speak.

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He told Variety that the experience made him think about how the United States was on the "very wrong track," adding he doesn't know how anyone could explain what President Trump "has done to this country" or "what it feels like to be an American now," calling it "astonishing."

"If we want a world a certain way, then we have to elect leaders who have a similar vision to us and will lead us towards this higher level of possibility — who we are as individuals and how we can create a world, a society where people can live with each other rather than this battlefield every day, all day long, with the craziness," Gere said. "Especially, as I say, coming from this very crude mentality that is now in our leadership."

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Gere and his wife, Alejandra Silva, moved to Spain at the end of 2024, with the actor telling Vanity Fair Spain that he thought of the move as "a great adventure" because he had never lived outside the United States.

He explained that the move was good for his wife, because "her family, her lifelong friends and her culture" are there, and it was a good trade-off since "she was very generous in giving me six years living in my world."

When speaking with the Daily Mail in April 2025, Silva explained that the move is not permanent, noting "For a few years [we’ll live in Spain], and then come back. But we're always coming back."

"I'm with my family... I missed them a lot. But I miss the U.S. So we come back and forth," she told the outlet.