Hollywood legend George Clooney enrages MAGA world by slamming Trump in a new interview, says that news networks should tell him "go f*ck yourself."

And America's beloved leading man was just getting warmed up...

“It's a very trying time," Clooney told Variety. "It can depress you or make you very angry. But you have to find the most positive way through it. You have to put your head down and keep moving forward because quitting isn't an option."

"I knew him very well,” Clooney added. “He used to call me a lot, and he tried to help me get into a hospital once to see a back surgeon. I'd see him out at clubs and at restaurants. He's a big goofball. Well, he was. That all changed.”

Of course, the reality is that Trump has always been a pathetic, venial man. He used to masquerade as a Democrat because he liked ingratiating himself with celebrities and lived in a blue city, but he never truly believed in liberal principles. The moment that power was within reach, he tore away his mask to reveal the leering visage of a fascist.

Clooney - who directed and starred in a film about CBS News standing up to Joseph McCarthy during his red scare hearings - also addressed the disheartening fact that CBS News settled a sham lawsuit with Trump so that he would rubber stamp a sale of its parent company Paramount. ABC News reached a similar settlement with the deeply corrupt president.

"If CBS and ABC had challenged those lawsuits and said, 'Go fuck yourself,' we wouldn't be where we are in the country," said Clooney. "That's simply the truth."

Clooney went on to slam billionaire David Ellison's installation of right-wing hack Bari Weiss as the editor-in-chief of CBS News. Ellison, a close ally of Trump, chose Weiss because she could be trusted to spike any stories that might upset the White House and because she is fervently pro-Israel.

"Bari Weiss is dismantling CBS News as we speak," said Clooney. "I'm worried about how we inform ourselves and how we're going to discern reality without a functioning press."

The criticisms are well-founded. Weiss recently ignited a firestorm by strangling a "60 Minutes" segment entitled "Inside CECOT" at the last minute, supposedly because it was "not ready." In reality, she was doing Trump a favor by blocking robust reportage on the brutal, inhumane conditions inside the Salvadoran prison that he illegally sent deportees to.

The Weiss-Ellison story is part of a broader, troubling trend in the news media. We are losing access to the truth as billionaires buy up once-reputable publications to push their oligarchic agenda. Clooney is brave to speak out and it falls to all of us to amplify his message.