Joseph Fiennes says ‘you can’t not equate’ Trump’s administration and The Handmaid’s Tale

‘Everything that went before, to build a government for the people, is now being torn down,’ said the actor

Joseph Fiennes has said that ‘you can’t not equate’ Donald Trump’s administration and the dystopian regime depicted in The Handmaid’s Tale.

The actor plays Commander Fred in the hit drama, which is set in a world with a regime where women are raped in monthly ceremonies and forced to bear children for the upper classes.

He said: “The last thing I want to do is talk Handmaid’s and then Trump’s administration, but somehow you can’t not equate some things. So you look at those Republican leaders who are not standing up, and they are all Fred.

“There’s a scene we shot on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. You think about the Gettysburg speech and all that engenders, and the flag of Martin Luther. And you look from 1863 to 1963, and then to our dystopian future – Margaret Atwood’s future – and then at what’s going on in the administration today. Everything that went before, to build a government for the people, is now being torn down. And Gilead takes it down in flames.

“So, yes. We got lucky with the zeitgeist.”

The actor, who portrays one of the most hatest characters on television, also said he is “waiting for someone to slap or punch me in the street”.

“I’m waiting for someone to be really disturbed by Fred because I’m really disturbed by him.”