Meryl Streep renews harsh criticism of Trump

NEW YORK: In an emotional speech by turns tearful, defiant and humorous, Meryl Streep doubled down on her harsh criticism of President Donald Trump, and spoke of having become a target since she first took him on in her Golden Globes speech in January.
Addressing a cheering audience at a fundraising gala, Streep referred to Trump’s tweet after her Globes speech, in which he called the celebrated actress “overrated.”
“Yes, I am the most overrated, over-decorated and currently, I am the most over-berated actress … of my generation,” she said to laughs.
She noted that she wished she could simply stay home “and load the dishwasher” rather than take a podium to speak out — but that “the weight of all these honors” she’s received in her career compelled her to speak out.
“It’s terrifying to put the target on your forehead,” she said. “And it sets you up for all sorts of attacks and armies of brownshirts and bots and worse, and the only way you can do it is if you feel you have to. You have to! You don’t have an option. You have to.”
The term “brownshirts” was first used to describe an early Nazi militia.
Streep spoke about how early cultures had always put men at the top, but at some point in the 20th century, women, people of color and other minorities began achieving their deserved rights.
Turning to Trump, she said: “But if we live through this precarious moment — if his catastrophic instinct to retaliate doesn’t lead us to nuclear winter — we will have much to thank this president for. Because he will have woken us up to how fragile freedom really is.”