Josh Brolin Reflects on His Past Friendship with Donald Trump: ‘I Know a Different Guy’

Josh Brolin is looking back on the days when he knew Donald Trump long before the presidency — and sharing how that shapes the way he sees Trump now.

The actor, 57, spoke about their past friendship, as well as Trump’s repeated hints about seeking a third term in office, in a new interview with The Independent published on Saturday, Nov. 29.

“I’m not scared of Trump, because even though he says he’s staying forever, it’s just not going to happen,” Brolin said.

“And if it does, then I’ll deal with that moment. But having been a friend of Trump before he was president, I know a different guy,” he continued.

Trump, 79, has repeatedly floated the idea of running for a third presidential term, despite the 22nd Amendment clearly limiting presidents to two terms in office.

Brolin first crossed paths with Trump after appearing in the 2010 film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, at a time when Trump was primarily known as a real estate mogul, according to The Independent.

Reflecting on Trump’s career in development, Brolin said, “I’m sure there was a lot of corruption involved.” He pointed to Trump’s decision to build a high-end hotel “in the middle of a cesspool city during the late ’70s,” referring to New York City, as something that fascinated him.

“That’s interesting to me,” he said, adding, “Now it’s power unmitigated, it’s unregulated.”

Brolin also acknowledged what he sees as Trump’s undeniable ability to sell an image and a message.

“There is no greater genius than him in marketing. He takes the weakness of the general population and fills it. And that’s why I think a lot of people feel that they have a mascot in him,” the No Country for Old Men star explained. “I think it’s much less about Trump than it is about the general population and their need for validation.”

Currently starring in the third installment of the Knives Out franchise, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Brolin has also faced questions about whether his character, Monsignor Wicks — a deeply polarizing, power-obsessed religious leader — was modeled after Trump.

“I could make something up and say it was rooted in a kind of Trumpian greed,” he joked, before making it clear that Trump was not the inspiration for the role.