Harrison Ford, one of Hollywood’s most enduring legends, has ignited a political explosion with remarks aimed squarely at President Donald Trump. Fresh off reprising his iconic roles as Indiana Jones and Han Solo, the 83-year-old actor unloaded on Trump in a blistering interview with The Guardian published on October 31, 2025. Ford has never shied away from environmental advocacy, but this time his criticism was as harsh as it was unfiltered. Calling Trump “one of the greatest criminals in history,” Ford accused him of waging an assault on climate protections driven by ignorance and personal gain. The comments, delivered just before Ford accepted the E.O. Wilson Legacy Award for Transformative Conservation Leadership at Chicago’s Field Museum, triggered fierce reactions—Trump supporters mocked him as irrelevant, while progressives praised him for telling hard truths during an era of climate catastrophe.
For Ford, Trump’s leadership represents whimsy masquerading as governance. He told The Guardian that Trump’s approach isn’t grounded in policy but in “impulsive whims,” adding that the president’s behavior “scares the sh*t out of me.” Ford listed what he sees as Trump’s defining traits—arrogance, deception, and willful disregard for science—arguing that Trump understands the stakes but chooses to benefit from the status quo regardless of the consequences. The actor’s fierce criticism came from a place of long-standing commitment: for decades he has been a central figure in environmental activism, serving as vice chair of Conservation International since the early 1990s. He has narrated climate documentaries, testified before Congress, and devoted years to public education on deforestation and warming. Critics, however, often point to his private jet usage—tabloid headlines resurfaced reports that the aircraft emitted 35 metric tons of carbon over a short period in 2022—accusing him of hypocrisy.
The fury Ford directed toward Trump is rooted in the administration’s sweeping rollback of climate initiatives during Trump’s second term. Beginning in early 2025, the White House slashed funding for clean energy projects, opened vast expanses of land to aggressive fossil-fuel development, and cut over a thousand positions at the Environmental Protection Agency, including roles tied to climate science. References to “climate change” were stripped from agency communications, and Trump’s October 2025 speech to the United Nations—where he dismissed climate science as “the greatest con job ever pulled on humanity”—became a flashpoint. Ford viewed the address as a blatant act of misinformation, calling it “a pure display of arrogance and intentional deception.” He also mocked Trump’s known hostility toward wind turbines, joking that the former president “just hasn’t seen a gold one yet.” To Ford, the heart of the issue is money: Trump’s political rise has long been supported by major donors in the oil and gas industry, with OpenSecrets data showing over $200 million in contributions from fossil-fuel interests since 2016.
Ford’s urgency is shaped not only by data but by personal experience. He had recently evacuated his Santa Barbara property as the massive Los Angeles wildfires tore through 150,000 acres in October 2025, destroying homes and claiming lives. “I saw it coming,” he said, reflecting on three decades of climate warnings. “Everything scientists predicted is happening. Why isn’t it enough to alarm people into action? Because the people benefitting from the old system refuse to let go.” Worldwide, 2025 has been catastrophic—Europe’s deadly heatwaves, Pakistan’s devastating floods, and U.S. hurricanes like Helene and Milton causing hundreds of billions in damage. The latest IPCC report warns that irreversible tipping points loom unless global emissions crest by 2025. Against this backdrop, Ford views Trump’s withdrawal from climate commitments and rollback of electric vehicle regulations as jeopardizing global stability for short-term profit.
Despite his grim assessment, Ford refuses to succumb to despair. He insists Trump is losing credibility, pointing to the explosive growth of renewable energy—solar and wind now outpacing coal in the United States, and global clean-energy investment reaching $1.8 trillion in 2024. Ford voiced cautious optimism: “We can still slow this down. Human beings adapt. We innovate. When we focus on solving problems, we usually succeed.” His stance echoes his 2024 endorsement of Kamala Harris, where he contrasted her leadership style with what he characterized as Trump’s demand for unwavering loyalty.
Predictably, the MAGA reaction was swift and vicious. Social media lit up with insults, dismissals and counterattacks. One widely shared post mocked Trump supporters for their outrage, while others labeled Ford and fellow environmentally minded celebrities as “sick” or “delusional.” Conservative outlets seized on Ford’s jet usage as evidence of hypocrisy, amplifying it across their platforms. At the same time, Ford’s defenders circulated clips of his Guardian interview, and hashtags supporting him trended globally. International press outlets, including Spain’s El País, translated and broadcast his remarks to audiences abroad.
Ford’s critique joins the chorus of Hollywood figures who have ramped up their denunciations of Trump in recent years—from Robert De Niro’s fiery tirades to Mark Ruffalo’s pipeline protests and Leonardo DiCaprio’s climate speeches. Some online commentators even joked about Ford’s famous anti-Nazi fights in the Indiana Jones films, drawing satirical parallels to modern political alliances.
In an America fractured by climate denial and political polarization, Ford’s comments struck a nerve. He believes that Trump’s allegiance to fossil-fuel interests may enrich a small elite but imperils the future. His closing plea is for “political will and intellectual maturity,” warning that the stakes grow higher each year. As the nation confronts record disasters and prepares for midterm elections, Ford’s message feels less like celebrity outrage and more like a stark warning we may not be able to ignore.
