LAS VEGAS - MAR 7: Alan Ritchson, Catherine Ritchson at the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards Arrivals at Allegient Stadium on March 7, 2022 in Las Vegas, NV. (Photo credit: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock)
The star of Amazon's "Reacher" refused Monday to dial down his anger at President Donald Trump when a podcast host asked him if he could.
Alan Ritchson, 43, appeared on Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" on Monday, where Shepard pushed him to let go of his resentment toward the president. The action star wasn't having it, launching into his second lengthy tirade about Trump in a week.
“Could you go all the way to letting go of the resentment?” Shepherd asked.
“No, I don’t know, man,” Ritchson replied. “I can let go of the resentment and then what does that do for the world? It allows these predatory f---ers to just continue. Look at the politics that we deal with right now. The White House is in ruins—a f---ing UFC cage on the Lawn. And you just do it. You just f---ing do it and nobody says anything and no consequences!”
Ritchson didn't stop there.
“I’m just supposed to let go of my resentment that this f---ing guy is just raping the world that he lives in for whatever gain he personally can have. And I’m supposed to let that go. And then what? It f---ing still exists. So, no, I’m not good at letting go. I f---ing hate it. I hate that that s--- still lives in the world unabated, unchecked, unresolved, uncleansed.”
He was pointing to the state of American politics with the White House lawn being torn up due to a UFC cage fight Trump staged for his 80th birthday. Ritchson said he channels his anger into motivation to help others rather than releasing it.
The tirade followed an earlier appearance on Josh Horowitz's "Happy, Sad, Confused" podcast, where Ritchson demanded the release of the Justice Department's Epstein files, in which Trump is named thousands of times, and suggested the president belongs in jail. The redacted files include FBI interview notes from an unnamed woman who says Epstein introduced her to Trump when she was about 13 and that Trump attacked her. Trump has denied the allegation. A federal judge has since ruled that courts can force the Justice Department to hand over files it fought to keep sealed.
The White House hit back with spokesperson Davis Ingle telling The Daily Beast: “Alan Ritchson is a talentless hack who clearly suffers from a severe and incurable disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome that has completely rotted his peanut-sized brain.”