A coalition of prominent Hollywood celebrities and activists has marked America's 250th anniversary by releasing a video campaign that warns against President Donald Trump's administration and urges citizens to oppose it. The nearly 10-minute video, which debuted on Variety, features dozens of well-known figures reciting lessons from the 2017 book «On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century» by historian Timothy Snyder.
The video includes actors such as Mark Ruffalo, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ted Danson, and Judd Apatow, along with authors Margaret Atwood and Isabel Allende, and singer Joan Baez. In the clip, Snyder directly addresses viewers, describing the upcoming November midterm elections as a critical turning point for the country. «Today, the Republic is 250 years old,» Snyder says. «As I look ahead to this coming November, I see a turning point for our Republic — a time when things could turn very well, or they could turn very ill indeed.»
The celebrities recite specific rules from Snyder's book, including «Do not obey in advance,» delivered by actors Leslie Odom Jr., Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Holland Taylor, and «Beware of the one-party state,» read by Allende and actress Lisa Rinna. The video is intended to serve as a warning about what the participants describe as threats to democratic institutions under the current administration.
Mark Ruffalo, known for his role in Marvel's «Avengers» films and a longtime critic of Trump, explained his motivation for joining the campaign in an interview with Variety. «My hope is that after this very bad and corrupt time we are living through now, we move away from a government that caters to the wealthy and powerful and focuses on the needs, desires and dreams of the children and young people,» Ruffalo said. He also called for closing the wealth gap, protecting the environment, and abandoning what he described as a «colonial mindset of land theft, extractive economies, domination and materialism.»
Snyder, who wrote the book in November 2016, also posted the video on his Substack with a caption that read: «To celebrate a rebellion is to know that, from a flawed world, we can make new things. We can hold on, we can find each other, and not just imagine but create a much better America. It is a special 250th – it is ours.» In the description, he directly criticized the official 250th anniversary celebrations, writing that the leaders behind them represent a «threat to liberty.» He added: «Sadly, those who lead our official celebration today represent every threat to liberty that the founders named: arbitrary rule; indifference to law; undue accumulation of wealth; corruption of the government to attain that wealth; collusion with foreign powers to attain power.»
The video campaign comes at a time of heightened political polarization in the United States, as the country approaches the 2026 midterm elections. The participants include a wide range of figures from entertainment, literature, and activism: Isabel Allende, Judd Apatow, Margaret Atwood, Joan Baez, Sophia Bush, Misha Collins, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Ted Danson, Ron Funches, Tony Goldwyn, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Jenifer Lewis, Leslie Odom Jr., Sarah Jessica Parker, Billy Porter, journalist Maria Ressa, Lisa Rinna, Molly Ringwald, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith-Cameron, Holland Taylor, author Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Bradley Whitford.
The video has drawn criticism from some quarters, with commentators noting the irony of wealthy celebrities lecturing Americans about political threats. Actor Billy Bob Thornton, in a separate interview, pushed back on celebrity activism, saying: «I don't know anything about politics.» Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
The campaign underscores the ongoing debate over the role of celebrities in political discourse, as well as the deep divisions in American society ahead of the midterm elections. Snyder's book, which draws on historical examples of authoritarianism, has gained renewed attention in recent years as a guide for resisting perceived threats to democracy. The video's release on the nation's 250th anniversary adds a symbolic layer to the message, framing the current political moment as a test of the country's founding principles.
