The latest season of their show refuses to mention the president by name, calling him the "monster" in the White House, but there's one thing that One Day at a Time star Isabella Gomez says Donald Trump deserves credit for: provoking the #MeToo movement.
“You know, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has brought a lot of awful things, but he also has made it so that people have come together in a way that I’ve never seen before," Gomez told BuzzFeed News in a Tuesday interview.
At least 16 women have accused the current president of sexual misconduct, but the White House has called them all liars.
Still, Gomez said opposition to Trump has brought women together in a way that she has never experienced before.
“It is so freaking cool. I don’t know how else to explain it,” Gomez said. “Especially to see women supporting women, because we’ve been pinned against each other for so long. The narrative has been, ‘You have to fight each other,’ and to see women be like, ‘No, absolutely not, I got you and we’re going to come together and change this,’ is amazing.”
Justina Machado, Gomez's on-screen mom, said the Time's Up movement, the anti-harassment campaign launched by more than 300 women in Hollywood, has prompted an industry shift in conversation to "something that matters."
“I like the red carpet and I understand the red carpet, but it’s a little frightening because it’s just about the picture. It’s just about what the hell you’re wearing,” Machado said. “And now they’re actually talking to people and we’re talking about things that really matter. It’s a really incredible time.”
Gomez added that she had recently attended a Time’s Up meeting, and that she’s “never experienced such unity and love and hope."
Although the second season of the Netflix show, which premiered Jan. 26, doesn't mention the president by name, his immigration policies and rhetoric haunt the lives of Penelope Alvarez (Machado), her teenage daughter Elena (Gomez), younger son Alex (Marcel Ruiz), and Penelope’s mother, Lydia Riera (Rita Moreno).
Machado, who is Puerto Rican, told BuzzFeed News' AM to DM on Thursday that the president had also failed to support people still suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
“I hate talking about him, but I will say this: They are not doing enough,” Machado said. “And it’s a shame. It’s so sad because we are American citizens."
"He's not with anybody but himself," she said.