The JD Vance normalizer doesn't like actors that get political

But don’t ask him to endorse a candidate: actors who hit the campaign trail are another one of his pet peeves. “We’re saying words that we’re told to say. We’re told how to say them. We’re told where to stand. And then we’re telling people how to vote?” Basso says scornfully in a new episode of the Great Company podcast. “You should be quiet, you should do your job. You should be a jester, entertain people, then shut the fuck up,” he says. “We’re court jesters. We’re entertaining. We’re public servants. We’re there to perform a job, to entertain, and then all of sudden, the jester, because he’s in the courtroom starts to be like: ‘I might want to go sit on the throne!'”

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By the way, Basso offers these thoughts essentially unprompted off the interviewer’s inquiry, “I’m guessing you probably don’t like fame?” Your mileage may vary whether or not you agree with his opinion on famous people weighing in on elections. But Basso, despite describing himself to Variety as “not really a political person,” is quite often giving his unsolicited opinion on the evils of government, everywhere from trade publications to The Tonight Show. In that same Variety interview, he expressed a desire to quit acting and launch—of all things—a policing non-profit, because “Police officers are representatives of a government people don’t trust. And in order to make that government real socially, people need to see something tangible.” So, to follow his own metaphor, court jesters shouldn’t tell people how to vote, but it’s cool if they want to train police officers. An interesting personal philosophy, we have to admit. 

As for Vance specifically, Basso admitted to Variety that “It’s kind of weird to be included” in the timeline of the politician’s ascent. He once met Vance and thinks “He’s a cool dude.” But he said that after the election, so it doesn’t count toward telling you how to vote!