From Fox News · Julia Bonavita · · 1m 50s
Art Garfunkel says he may leave America
At 84, the Simon & Garfunkel voice says he no longer recognizes the country he has lived in his whole life.
In brief
At 84, the Simon & Garfunkel voice says he no longer recognizes the country he has lived in his whole life. When a musician six decades into an American career talks about leaving, the story is the alienation, not the plane ticket. Originally reported by Fox News.
Garfunkel is thinking of leaving
The 84-year-old musician told The Guardian he is considering moving out of the United States over the Trump administration and its policies.
“I'm not aboard, and I'm thinking of leaving the country, frankly.”
What he objects to
His complaint is not one policy. He pointed to a warming planet, rising water and widespread hunger as evidence of where things stand.
“It's real that the planet is getting warmer, that the water's rising, that so many people are starving.”
Venezuela set him off
Garfunkel criticized the military operation that ended with then-president Nicolas Maduro captured and held in a Brooklyn detention center on federal charges.
“When Donald Trump took over Venezuela, are those the new rules? Just take over a country and run it?”
He still expects it to pass
Even while calling the moment shocking, Garfunkel landed on patience rather than despair about who occupies the White House.
“But Trump won't last forever, so we've got to hope.”
A long line ahead of him
Rosie O'Donnell moved to Ireland after the 2024 election. James Cameron pursued New Zealand citizenship. Ellen DeGeneres made a UK stay permanent.
O'Donnell actually went
She came back in August to guest-host Jimmy Kimmel Live, called Trump "Mango Mussolini," then returned to her new Irish residency.
“I read that Project 2025 and said, 'Got to get myself out of here, you know.'”
Why this one reads differently
Democratic strategist Kaivan Shroff said celebrity exit threats are easy to dismiss, but Garfunkel has no political brand to build at 84.
“This doesn't exactly read like somebody trying to launch a political brand.”
The tell is the alienation
Shroff thinks the moving talk is a statement rather than a plan. What stands out is a man describing a country he no longer recognizes.
“He's looking at the country he has lived in his entire life and saying, essentially, 'I don't recognize our role in the world anymore.'”
Not a feeling he holds alone
Shroff argued the unease about America deciding the old rules no longer apply runs far wider than one folk singer, whatever you make of his politics.
“That kind of unease is hardly unique to Art Garfunkel.”
In short
When a musician six decades into an American career talks about leaving, the story is the alienation, not the plane ticket.
