John Cusack plays President Richard M. Nixon as a sweaty, power-obsessed politician in Lee Daniels’ The Butler.
The progressive actor still thinks the leader lionized in the film’s framing device, Barack Obama, represents a power grab far more problematic than the disgraced Nixon.
Cusack is one of the few actors who robustly challenge Obama, from the hard-left, on matters like the NSA domestic spying scandal.