Bill Murray: GOP tax reform 'fantastic' for corporations, akin to 'high tide raising all boats

Actor and comedian Bill Murray called the Republican tax reform "fantastic" for corporations, said it has "made things easier" and likened it to the "high tide raising all boats."

“The change in the tax law is a great thing for the corporations, it’s a fantastic thing,” Murray revealed during CNBC’s “Squawk Box" Friday.

“I don’t pretend to understand what that will mean in the future in terms of the economy or what the budget will have to do to take care of what people call entitlements,” he continued. "In the first step, it’s made things easier. I think people feel like there was probably too much regulation, and yet you just hope that they don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater when breaking down regulations.”

What did Murray have to say about America's cultural divide?

Murray pointed out that he sees a "clash of clans first thing in the morning, every day" and "people going to war about so much" as the American cultural rift continues to widen.

But amid growing political polarization, Murray observed that others are trying to take a different approach.

“How can Kristen Wiig make everyone laugh? She’s not thinking about being political; she’s thinking about what resonates and what is common to all of us," Murray noted. "I think that that’s harder and harder to do because people are trying to win their point of view as opposed to saying, ‘What if I had spoke[n] to everyone?’”

He also brought up his friend and "great comedy writer" Jim Downey, who Murray said has been "accused of being a right-wing comedy writer, if there is such a thing."

Murray recalled Downey's response to the accusation: “He says, ‘No, no, I just think the way the Democrats handle things is poor, where they try to pick out little pieces of a population — well, we represent the Hispanics, we represent the LGBT or something — and they’re not speaking to everyone at once.' And it’s almost demeaning to say, ‘I’m choosing you because you’re a splinter group, or you’re a certain minority group.’ There’s almost a resentment that somehow you’re separated, again, by a politician — you’re my people, I’m in control of you, I represent you’ — instead of thinking that each citizen has a right to be respected as a citizen first, under the laws of the country.”

Here's the clip. The relevant portion starts at about the 2-minute mark:

(H/T: Washington Times)