Eric Dane Made His Thoughts On Donald Trump Crystal Clear

Following a tragic and life-changing health diagnosis, "Grey's Anatomy" alum Eric Dane died on February 19, 2026. The beloved "McSteamy" had announced his diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease — less than a year earlier. His grieving family released a statement (via People) affirming that he was with his loved ones at the end, including wife Rebecca Gayheart, who called off her impending divorce with Dane in 2025.

Like most of us, the "Euphoria" actor was active on social media, primarily using his Instagram account to promote his acting projects and ALS advocacy. However, Dane wasn't above making a political statement now and then — and one of his harshest ones was aimed directly at President Donald Trump. The day after the infamous January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol building, Dane took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to slam the then-outgoing POTUS. "Calling Trump 'the worst President ever' implies at some point he did something that qualified him as President," he wrote. "Never happened — Not once. He's a dim witted ignorant genetic glitch. Don't compare him to Presidents." 

Dane's post was predictably met with backlash from Trump supporters. One accused him of virtue signaling and added, "[G]o back to acting in films like Marley and Me, [and] leave the social commentary to those who have something between their ears." Other fans cheered him: "YES! Well said! Especially the 'genetic glitch' part!!" raved one. "He's been an embarrassment to our country for far too long!"

Eric Dane (seen here with his two daughters) wasn't as consistently vocal about his political opinions as others in the entertainment world, but the insurrection on the Capitol brought out the protester within. Dane reposted a number of statements on X from Sacha Baron Cohen calling for a total social media ban for Donald Trump. At the time, Twitter announced it was suspending Trump's account on the grounds of potentially inciting violence, yet YouTube only agreed to block the then-former president for a week as a start. Cohen wrote a sample statement for the video sharing company to use (it began "We have failed."), and Dane shared that as well.

Several years earlier, Dane came out even more strongly against the president. In 2016, "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes tweeted a reaction to the just-released news about Trump's infamous "Grab them by the p****" comment, opining that all men should condemn his statement for its sheer misogyny, not just ones who feared for the safety of their wives and daughters. Dane reacted with an even saltier slap at the president, and seemingly at Rhimes too (via People): "How bout this — [f***] @realDonaldTrump and I could give no [f****] about @shondarhimes opinion," he wrote. "My wife and 2 girls. He needs to b [b****] slapped." He explained in other posts that his ire wasn't targeted at Rhimes at all and was purely for Trump.

Dane pulled back on political commentary in recent years, not even expressing a public opinion of Trump's 2024 re-election or any of the policies that followed. Presumably, he was preoccupied both with his career and his illness. But it's not hard to imagine what Dane might have said about the administration with more time to express himself.