Mark Ruffalo, Sarah Jessica Parker, Margaret Atwood Deliver July 4 Warning Against Trump

While President Trump has chosen to mark America’s 250^th anniversary with gaudy displays honoring himself, a team of actors, activists, scholars, comedians and writers have assembled to deliver an urgent warning about the fragility of our democracy.

Timothy Snyder, the bestselling author, historian and expert on fascism, recruited dozens of luminaries to recite lines from his 2017 book “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” which analyzed what he called “America’s turn toward authoritarianism” under Trump by looking at how democracies transmogrified into dictatorships in 20^th century Europe.

Snyder’s tome gives a series of instructions on how to defend against tyranny, e.g. “defend institutions” and “believe in truth,” and in a video released July 4^th — that Variety is exclusively debuting — you can see the following folks deliver them: Isabel Allende, Judd Apatow, Margaret Atwood, Joan Baez, Sophia Bush, Misha Collins, Kimberlè Crenshaw, Ted Danson, Ron Funches, Tony Goldwyn, Eric Holder, Jenifer Lewis, Leslie Odom Jr., Sarah Jessica Parker, Billy Porter, Maria Ressa, Lisa Rinna, Molly Ringwald, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith-Cameron, Holland Taylor, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Bradley Whitford.

The message is clear: Although the Trump administration has eroded America’s institutions and tested its resolve, it is imperative that we learn from this chapter of U.S. history lest we be doomed to repeat it.

“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 tells Variety. “That we live the promise of equality for all and we close the wealth gap that leads to unrest, scapegoating and desperation. That we build a world based on peace and the well-being of the working class instead of war and the debasement of the masses, letting us cherish this beautiful planet and all its living systems and leave behind the colonial mindset of land theft, extractive economies, domination and materialism; embrace the Indigenous wisdom and worldview of circular economies, respect for all things and beings as our relatives and therefore worthy of our care and thoughtfulness. Keep America moving toward its great promise and not the measly mistakes and cruelty of its past.”

Snyder’s July 4^th video is bookended by narration from Sarah Jessica Parker, who ends on the following message:

“The lesson of America is not that freedom was given. It is that freedom was defended. Again and again. By people who refused to give up on one another. The next 250 years begin now. What happens next is not inevitable. It depends on us.”