Jane Fonda on Trump: ‘This is a very chilling time’

Actress Jane Fonda described her worry amid a second Trump administration, saying Wednesday that the country is facing “a very chilling time.”

“This is a very chilling time. You know, we’ve faced attempts at autocracy before in the ’20s and ’30s, and you’ve cited the example of McCarthyism. There was Jim Crow. This is different, and we should all be very scared, and the key is solidarity,” Fonda told CNN’s Dana Bash on “Inside Politics.”

“And so, that’s why I thought to resurrect the spirit of the committee that was started in the ’50s, and it included my father, within the entertainment industry. This is contained within — we want to work cross-sectorally with other people because, obviously, a lot of other people are affected by what’s happening,” she added, talking about the Committee for the First Amendment, which she recently relaunched.

More than 600 entertainment industry figures have signed on to Fonda’s effort, which was restarted Wednesday.

The committee outlined its history in a statement, saying it was founded in the 1940s amid a “dark time when the federal government repressed and persecuted American citizens for their political beliefs.”

“The McCarthy era ended when Americans from across the political spectrum finally came together and stood up for the principles in the Constitution against the forces of repression,” the statement said.

On Tuesday, late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, both critics of President Trump, swapped stories of being taken off the air. Colbert explained during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” how he learned his show was being axed by Paramount, an action that was welcomed by Trump. 

“It’s their ball, and they can take it home if they want,” Colbert, host of “The Late Show,” said referring to CBS.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.