"I’m not scared of Trump ": Josh Brolin speaks on past friendship with the American President and more

Josh Brolin went public with the reminiscences of his early days of acquainting with Donald Trump, and he even, in a recent interview, depicted a contrasting Donald Trump from the one we know today. The actor shared in an interview with The Independent on November 29, 2025 that he thought of Trump as "a master strategist in marketing and image" and emphasized that he was familiar with Trump before his political career drastically changed his image.

While Brolin is not supportive of Trump's present views, he claimed that he is not scared of him politically even if the ex-president acts as if he will be in power forever.

He said in the interview with The Independent,

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

What did Josh Brolin say about Donald Trump?

Josh Brolin thinks that the Donald Trump that he saw in the New York real estate years ago was not as extreme as the one that has been connected to the Republican Party.

His confusion with the Trump character in the film ending Hes Monsignor Wicks was obvious to Josh Brolin as he didn't feel comfortable drawing a direct comparison though he did admit that people could view it that way.

Donald Trump, he said, is not just a charismatic figure, but someone who excels because of his uncanny ability to spot and then magnify the prevailing public mood: "Nobody is a greater marketing genius than he is," said Brolin.

He stated that the loyalty which Trump is able to attract is more about the emotional state of the people than about the leader himself. To him, the craving of society for recognition and being represented is one of the factors that explain Trump's grip on the American political sphere.

Josh Brolin did a retrospective of the time he was socially meeting and interacting with Trump and the social aspect is what he concentrated on mostly. Brolin described these events as dinner parties followed by the making of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps in 2010, experiences that later transformed into anecdotes he discussed in interviews.

Brolin recalled a dinner with Shia LaBeouf, Oliver Stone, and Melania Trump, and he said that one event of the evening was the weirdest, which is when Trump, according to the story, refused several times to take them to the upper levels of his residence.

Another point that he raised was that in the 1970s when Trump started his career in real estate in New York, a luxury tower rising in what was then a cesspool city was not only a major cultural change but also a turning point in the city's history. While Josh Brolin hinted that corrupt practices might have been involved in the skyscraper era, he also gave credit to Trump for knowing how to gain people's attention and mastering the art of branding to an unprecedented level.

More details on Josh Brolin explored

Apart from his involvement in politics, Josh keeps himself busy in both film and TV industries. His big break came with The Goonies (1985) after which he turned to the dramatic arts and small screen during a career hiatus.

He made a comeback with No Country for Old Men (2007), which was shortly followed by Milk (2008), the film that earned him his first Oscar nomination. Over the past ten years, he has attained worldwide fame for his portrayal of Thanos in Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame and consequently, Josh extended his repertoire to include other franchises such as Deadpool, Sicario, and Dune.

He is the protagonist in Weapons (2025) and was also seen in The Running Man film, apart from that, he will also be seen in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.

Interested viewers can watch Josh Brolin's Weapons on Amazon Prime Video.

Edited by Sakshi Singh