Last night, I went to a high school football game with a friend. We’ve both known the coach since we were in school together, and we wanted to see him and his team play for the league championship.  My friend is a former TV star/actor. We were on the field during the game, and afterward, two women walked up to us, and the coach introduced my buddy. They were fans and asked to take a photo with him. Both women acted like they won a prize. I was not invited to be in the shot.

While we were walking to the parking lot, my friend mentioned that once he was with his brother, and a fan was fan-botting him. That fan turned to his brother and said, “Are you anybody?” 

The women were doe-eyed fans of an actor, but I doubt that they or anyone else for that matter is waiting for a celebrity to endorse either Harris or Trump. No one is choosing a president based on actors' endorsements. Maybe there are 14-year-olds who can recite Marvel comic canon, but I don’t think that anyone who can vote is persuaded by thespians who virtue and gnash their teeth over a phony “threat to democracy.”  

Actors generally are nowhere near as impressive in real life as they think they are. Most actors I’ve met are very impressed with themselves. They are far less impressive in the real world. But acting is what they do and virtue signaling at the unwashed masses is what gives them their sense of importance. 

When actors play “superheroes,” maybe they start to think that, in some sense, they are those characters; they are Tony Stark-like or Steve Bannon geniuses. Maybe they think we commoners are obliged to listen to them and watch in awe as they pat each other on the backdrop catchphrases that were written for them to mouth. They offer their virtue for us to worship. We are allowed to touch their cape just this once. We need to listen to them lecture commoners before they retreat to the castle  

Mark Ruffalo is Marvel Comics actor. He plays Bruce Banner. He got very wealthy being cast as a character that he really doesn’t even play. The Hulk is a CGI invention. Ruffalo gets paid to have his face slapped on a computer image. Ruffalo might be the dumbest and most obscenely ill-informed of the “Avenger” actors. Following the Kyle Rittenhouse not-guilty verdict, Ruffalo tweeted this 

We come together to mourn the lives lost to the same racist system that devalues Black lives and devalued the lives of Anthony and JoJo. #ReimagineKenosha

— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) November 19, 2021

Wait a minute? Ruffalo mourned the death of a child rapist? 

Ruffalo called a child rapist “JoJo,” like he lost a good friend. Who knows, maybe they were friends. That tweet is canonizing a felon child abuser. Back then, he allowed people to comment, and he got ripped. Instead of deleting his monumental self-own, he doubled down. Apparently, he's proud of it and continued to praise "JoJo." 

Ruffalo posted a video of some of his "Avenger" buddies reading from scripts “trying to come up with a “catchphrase” for Harris. They pretend to workshop what works. Here it is: 

We're back. Let's #AssembleForDemocracy. In the #ElectionEndgame, every vote counts 🗳️ #VoteBlue! Vote @KamalaHarris @Tim_Walz pic.twitter.com/Xp7YdUEqxa

— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) October 31, 2024

A screenload of vastly overpaid and preening actors came up with a catchphrase that, it seems, they were all super proud to have invented.   

Kamala Harris DOWN WITH DEMOCRACY! 

Actors generally don’t write their own scripts. There's a reason for that -- many are not all that good at thinking. That video is Exhibit A.  

Although they love their catchphrase - “Harris, Down with Democracy!” methinks it doesn’t quite capture what they want. Sure, a lot of 12-year-old Marvel nerds know that they mean that Harris is the “democracy” candidate - but it falls flat. And 12-year-olds don’t vote. At least not legally.    

One of the "Avengers," the actress who pretends to be a 100-pound Russian super spy, asked, “How many Golden Globes have you been nominated for?” 

The collection of actors all roil in laughter.   

"Avenger" actors endorsing Harris with a ridiculous “down with democracy” video? Stunning. So brave. 

Ruffalo cut off replies on that tweet. He doesn’t want to hear from real people? Nah, we are the unwashed. Commoners. Not "Avengers."

[Editor's Note: This article has been corrected. We incorrectly stated that a character was named "Steve Bannon." We regret the error.]