Director Judd Apatow skewered a New York Times op-ed Sunday, calling it “nonsense” for its claim that the FBI Mar-a-Lago raid improved Donald Trump’s chances for re-election.
“This editorial is nonsense,” the director tweeted. “Trump is a criminal who commits bigger crimes every time he gets away with one. He should face the same justice anyone else would.”
The “Forty-Year-Old Virgin” director criticized the opinion piece written by columnist David Brooks for suggesting that the FBI search has “unintentionally improved Trump’s re-election chances” and “motivated his base.”
The article, titled “Did the F.B.I. Just Re-elect Donald Trump?” noted that “the judicial system may be colliding with the political system in an unprecedented way,” as the FBI investigation into Trump under a potential violation of the Espionage Act operated inversely to “motivate” his base.
“In a normal society, when politicians get investigated or charged, it hurts them politically,” Brooks wrote, “But that no longer applies to the G.O.P.”
After weighing the priorities of “punish[ing] those who commit crimes” and “mak[ing] sure that Trump does not get another term as president,” Brooks argued that we’re living in a “crisis of legitimacy” and noted that “there’s no honorable way to alter our course.”
Apatow responded by disagreeing with Brooks and arguing that regardless of the impact, Trump “should face the same justice anyone else would.”
“This editorial assumes if he isn’t prosecuted all of the lunatics won’t find something else to get crazy about,” the director concluded.
Apatow has been vocal about his political views and sentiments toward Trump, telling IndieWire in 2020 that “I think it’s important to mock somebody who doesn’t deserve our respect.”
On Monday, Aug. 8, the FBI seized several boxes of papers from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, including documents labeled “top secret” in a raid authorized by a warrant that sought them for suspected crimes tied to the Espionage Act.
