Volkswacht Bodensee - 'Dictatorship of monsters': Richard Gere slams 'maniac' Trump

"We're living in the darkest moment that I've experienced on this planet," the 76-year-old "Pretty Woman" star told an awards ceremony in Oslo for the Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent.

"Who ever thought America could turn like this? Who ever thought that a maniac like this would be president of the United States?" Gere told the audience of hundreds.

"First day, this guy dismantled almost everything that was good about the US government and the US people."

The "American Gigolo" heartthrob has previous form with Trump, having already branded the Republican a "bully" in February 2025.

As he announced prizes on Tuesday at the Oslo Freedom Forum for imprisoned Chinese artist Gao Zhen and Myanmar anti-junta dissident Sai, Gere admitted that he had done too little to campaign against Trump's return to the White House.

"How is this even possible? Because we went to sleep. We didn't care. We didn't vote. We didn't really listen," the veteran actor said.

Gere told the audience that he had recently visited the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau.

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

A longtime supporter of Tibet and a convert to Buddhism, Gere has frequently met the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader accused by China of stoking separatism in the Himalayan region.

Since 2024, he has lived in Spain with his Spanish third wife, Alejandra Silva.

A.Kunz--VB