Patton Oswalt says Trump has 'been hurt his whole life'

Writer Patton Oswalt poses backstage with his award for Outstanding Writing For A Variety Special for "Patton Oswalt: Talking For Clapping" at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California U.S., September 18, 2016. (Reuters)

One of the more vocal voices in the worlds of comedy and politics is comedian Patton Oswalt. After a year of trauma and engaging with critics and fans alike on social media, the former “King of Queens” star has some pretty frank thoughts about the current presidential administration and Donald Trump himself.

Oswalt spoke to Playboy Magazine about a great many things, including the death of his wife, his recent engagement and how his daughter got him through. However, his juiciest tidbits came when he was asked about the current political climate. Having experienced a year of self-reflection and loss, the actor explained that he has been making attempts to look inward at right-win people rather than dismiss them.

“Take someone like Ann Coulter, who is so hateful. If you just take three steps back, you can see trauma, loss, frustration. It’s not that she’s mean; it’s that she’s hurt,” he told the outlet. “If you look at how Trump and his siblings were raised, what we’re seeing is the tail end of his having been hurt his whole life. His whole life since his childhood has been about vengeance and lashing out. He also came along during a time when a lot of the neoliberal experiment had kind of turned on the people it pretended to be helping.”

Despite his stark criticism of Trump, Oswalt had to admit that this isn’t the most stressed he’s been at an administration. For him, that accolade goes to George W. Bush, for reasons that were equally self-reflective.

“As scary as the Trump years are, that Bush–Bin Laden s*** was cranked up to Tolkien-level evil and chaos. Bush was a mediocrity being controlled by an evil genius. Trump is a mediocrity surrounded by other mediocrities. There’s no evil genius in the mix,” he said. “We don’t have a Palpatine or a Tarkin in there. We just have cave trolls.”