Cometh the hour, cometh the Matt. Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey stood at the White House press lectern and spoke about the Ulvade shootings.
It was such a convincing performance that it was easily possible to imagine him there on a more regular basis.
In a suit, white shirt and glasses, hair swept back smartly, he eulogised the victims of the attacks in Texas on May 24, which left 19 students and two teachers dead, and 17 others wounded. He held up photos of some of the victims. He talked about how nine-year-old Maite Rodriguez had only been identified by her green high-top Converse trainers.
McConaughey, 52, did not shy from the grim details of the shootings. He spoke of how hard it had been for the undertaker’s cosmetologist to prepare the tiny bodies for open-casket viewings, so awful were their exit wounds. He argued for specific changes to gun regulation: background checks, red flags and raising the age of sale on AR-15 assault rifles.
In just 21 minutes, McConaughey managed what no American politician has achieved in decades: a genuinely bipartisan appeal to the American people. The contrast between the actor’s fluency and President Biden’s doddery exhortations on the subject was, well, dramatic.
