David Lynch on Tuesday released a statement bashing President Trump, the morning after the president read from a right-wing website’s aggregation of an out-of-context, heavily caveated comment from the filmmaker “praising” the president.
Trump on Monday evening lauded Lynch at a Republican rally in South Carolina, citing right-wing website Breitbart’s aggregation of a Guardian interview in which the Twin Peaks creator said: “He could go down as one of the greatest presidents in history because he has disrupted the thing so much. No one is able to counter this guy in an intelligent way.”
Of course, the Breitbart article conveniently omitted Lynch’s caveats, including that, per The Guardian, he remains “undecided” on Trump’s legacy.
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Nevertheless, Trump ran with Breitbart’s framing, reading the article to his supporters, and using it as a launching point to tell the crowd he has “the greatest base in the history of politics.”
Trump’s newfound love of arthouse cinema, however, will likely come to a halt once or if he reads Lynch’s clarification of that supposed endorsement.
“Dear Mr. President,” the Mulholland Drive director wrote on Facebook. “This is David Lynch writing. I saw that you re-tweeted the Breitbart article with the heading – Director David Lynch: Trump ‘Could Go Down as One of the Greatest Presidents in History.’ I wish you and I could sit down and have a talk. This quote which has traveled around was taken a bit out of context and would need some explaining.”
Lynch continued: “Unfortunately, if you continue as you have been, you will not have a chance to go down in history as a great president. This would be very sad it seems for you—and for the country. You are causing suffering and division.”
The filmmaker offered some advice to Trump on how to save his legacy. “It’s not too late to turn the ship around. Point our ship toward a bright future for all. You can unite the country. Your soul will sing,” Lynch wrote. “Under great loving leadership, no one loses—everybody wins. It’s something I hope you think about and take to heart.”
“All you need to do is treat all the people as you would like to be treated,” he concluded.
