John Cleese believes the world is a mess because most of the people who rule it are "complete a**holes."
The Monty Python co-founder will present his first live stream performance and lecture Aug. 2 from an empty Cadogan Hall in London, and he told The Daily Beast why he's calling it "Why There Is No Hope."
“If you look around at the moment, most of the people who seek great power are complete a**holes, who are really only out for themselves,” Cleese said. “Well, if someone’s out for themselves primarily, like our dear President Donald Trump, with no interest in other people at all, it’s not very likely that they’re going to be very good at building a society, and you see that the characteristics of people who are powerful is that they have a deep, deep fear of losing their power.”
As a result, Cleese doesn't think it's possible to ever have a "sensible society," thanks to the rise of strongman leaders like Trump, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and others.
“We have madness and power-seeking and complete unscrupulousness and pathological lying," Cleese said, "and it’s very interesting why. Is it because people are very stupid? That’s a possible explanation.”
