‘Whether you’re a Democrat or whether you’re a Republican or whether you’re libertarian ... you’re the best, and we should not ever forget that’ — Clint Eastwood addresses 2012 Republican Convention
Posted: August 2025
Clint Eastwood speaks to an empty chair signifying President Barack Obama on Aug. 30, 2012, at the Republican National Convention. This transcript is human-recorded. It is intended to include the entirety of the speech as delivered and its pace; in some instances, partial words or phrases that cannot be discerned from the crowd reaction are omitted. Portions of the speech are clearly directed at the audience, while other portions are directed at the chair:
“Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Chuckles) Save a little for Mitt (Crowd laughs). I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking what’s a movie tradesman doing, uh, out here. You know, they’re all left wingers out there. Left of Lenin. At least that’s what people think, but that’s not really the case. There’s a lot of conservative people, a lot of moderate people, Republicans, Democrats, in, uh, Hollywood. It’s just that conservative people, by the nature of the word itself, are a- play it a little more close to the vest, and they don’t go around hot-dogging it. So. But they’re there, believe me, they’re there. And, I just, I think, in fact, there’s some of ’em around town, I saw Jon Voight, there’s a lot of people around here in town. John’s here, Academy Award winner, um, terrific guy. And these people are all like-minded, like all of us.
“So I’ve got, um, I’ve got Mr. Obama sitting here, and he’s I- I just was gonna ask him a couple questions, but, uh, you know, about, I- I remember three and a half years ago when Mr. Obama won the election, and uh, no, I wasn’t a big supporter. I was watching that night when he was, uh, having that thing, and they were talking about hope and change, and they were talking about, yes we can, and, and it was dark, and it’s outdoors, and it was nice, and people were lighting candles, and they were saying, uh, uh you know, I just thought, ‘This is great.’ I mean, everybody’s crying. Oprah was crying (Crowd laughs). And, uh, I was even crying. (Crowd laughs) And then finally, I haven’t cried that hard since, I found out that, uh, there’s 23 million unemployed people in this country. (Crowd applauds)
“And- Now, that is something, uh, to cry for, because, uh, that is a disgrace, a national disgrace, and we’ve- haven’t done enough, obviously. This administration hasn’t done enough to cure that. And, uh, whatever, whatever, uh, interest they have is, is not strong enough. And I think possibly now it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem. (Crowd cheers) So ... so Mr. President, how do you, uh, how do you handle, uh, how do you handle promises that you made when you were running for election? And how do you handle, uh, how do you handle it? I mean, what do you say to people? Do you, uh, do you just, uh- You know, I know, people, uh ... (Addresses chair) People are wondering, you don’t, OK.
“Well, I know even some people in your own party were very disappointed when you didn’t close Gitmo, and I thought, well, I think get closing Gitmo, why close it? We’ve spent so much money on it, uh, but, uh, I thought maybe it’s an excuse. (Gestures at chair) What do you mean, shut up? OK. It just- I thought it was just because somebody had a stupid idea of trying a terrorist in downtown New York City, maybe that was it. (Crowd cheers) I’ve gotta- I’ve gotta hand it to you. I- I’ve gotta give credit where credit’s due. You did overrule that finally. And that’s so, now we’re moving onward.
“And I know in the- I know you were against the war in Iraq and that’s OK, but you thought the war in Afghanistan was, was, uh, OK. I mean, you thought that was something that was worth doing. We didn’t check with the Russians to see how they did there for the 10 years. But- But it, uh, we, we did it, and it was, um, you know, it’s uh, it’s something to, uh, to be thought about. And I think that, uh, when we get to, uh, uh, maybe I think you mentioned something about having a target date for bringing everybody home. And you give that tom- target date and I think, Mr. Romney asked the only sensible question. He says, ‘Why are you giving the date out now? Why don’t you just bring ’em home tomorrow morning?’ (Crowd cheers) I thought- I thought, yeah. There’s a ... (addresses chair) I’m not gonna shut up. It’s my turn. So anyway, we got we’re gonna have. We’re gonna have to have a little chat about that.
“And then I just wondered, these- all these promises, and then I- I wondered about, uh, uh, you know, when, when, uh, the uh, what- (addresses chair) what do you want me to tell Romney? I can’t tell him to do that, he can’t do that to himself. (Crowd laughs) You’re- You’re absolutely crazy. You’re gettin’ as bad as Biden. (Crowd cheers) Of course we all know, Biden is the- Biden is the intellect of the, uh, Democratic Party, so we know. It’s just kind of a grin with a body behind it, you know. It’s just a little thing. But, um, uh, I- I just, uh, I just think that there’s so much to be done, and, uh, I think that Mr., uh, Mr. Romney and, and Mr. Ryan are two guys that can come along.
“See, I never thought that it was a good idea for attorneys to be president anyway, because it (Crowd laughs) ... I think- I think attorneys are so busy. You know, they’re always taught to argue everything, and always weigh everything and weigh both sides and, and uh, they’re always, you know, uh, they’re always uh, devils-advocating this, and bifurcating this and bifurcating that, you know, all that stuff. But I think it’s maybe time. What do you think, for maybe a businessman, how about that? (Crowd cheers and applauds) A stellar businessman. Quote-unquote, a stellar businessman, and I think it’s that time, and I think if you just kinda stepped aside and Mr. Romney, uh, can kind of take over, you can still use the plane. Though maybe a smaller one, not that big gas guzzler that you’re driving around when you’re going around to colleges and, uh, talking about student loans and stuff like that. (Crowd laughs) You’re an ecological man. Why would you want to drive that truck around? (Crowd laughs)
“OK. Well, anyway. All right. (Addressing chair) I’m sorry. I can’t do that to myself either. (Crowd applauds) I’ll- But I’d just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen, something that I think is very important: Is that you, we- we own this country. (Crowd cheers) Yes, we- we own it. And it’s not you owning it and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours. And uh- (Crowd cheers) So ... They’re just gonna come around and beg for votes every few years, it’s the same old deal. But I just think that it’s important that you realize that you’re the best in the world. And whether you’re a Democrat or whether you’re a pro- Republican or whether you’re libertarian or whatever, you’re the best, and we should not ever forget that. And we- when somebody does not do the job, we gotta let ’em go. (Crowd cheers) What? OK, just remember that.
“And I’m speaking out for everybody out there. It didn’t- it doesn’t hurt. We don’t have to be. (To voice in crowd) I don’t say that word anymore. Well, maybe one last time. We don’t have to be- What I’m saying is we don’t have to be mental masochists and vote for somebody that we don’t even really want in, uh, in the office. Just because they seem to be nice guys or maybe not so nice guys, if you look at some of the recent ads going out there, I don’t know. (Crowd cheers) But, um, OK. You wanna make my day. (Crowd cheers) I, uh, ... All right. I’ll start it. You finish it. Go ahead. (Crowd chants ‘Make my day.’) All right! Thank you. Thank you very much. (Crowd cheers and applauds)”
