--- title: Matt Damon at MIT: Actor Criticizes Donald Trump in Speech description: Matt Damon gave the commencement address at MIT on Friday and criticized the rise of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump canonical: https://time.com/4357006/matt-damon-mit-commencement-donald-trump/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-03T19:10:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:06.635Z article:section: Politics og:title: Matt Damon Criticizes Donald Trump in MIT Graduation Speech og:description: He bemoaned Donald Trump's rise to the Republican nomination og:url: https://time.com/4357006/matt-damon-mit-commencement-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91475bb06a07a17b/69889649196cf4eeba03bdfe/matt-damon-mit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4658 og:image:height: 2620 og:image:alt: Matt Damon Speaks at MIT 2016 Commencement Day og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Matt Damon Criticizes Donald Trump in MIT Graduation Speech twitter:description: He bemoaned Donald Trump's rise to the Republican nomination twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91475bb06a07a17b/69889649196cf4eeba03bdfe/matt-damon-mit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Matt Damon Criticizes Donald Trump in MIT Commencement Speech > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2250f993-6981-4a14-9373-fc9730e0b42f&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jun 3, 2016 7:10 PM UTC  Matt Damon delivers the commencement address to graduating students at MIT on June 3 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Matt Damon delivers the commencement address to graduating students at MIT on June 3 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Paul Marotta/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jun 3, 2016 7:10 PM UTC Matt Damon revisited his old _Good Will Hunting_ stomping grounds on Friday, giving the commencement address to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and criticizing the rise of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Damon praised the work of students and faculty at MIT before discussing one idea that posits reality [could actually be a computer-generated simulation](http://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html). “If there are multiple simulations, how come we have to be in the one where Donald Trump becomes the Republican nominee for president?” Damon said, to applause. “Can we like transfer to a different one?” Damon challenged graduates to work on solving important problems—simulation or not. “This world—real or imagined—this world has some problems that we need you to drop everything and solve,” he said. “So go ahead and take your pick from the world’s worst buffet: economic inequality—that’s a problem. How about the refugee crisis, massive global insecurity, climate change, pandemics, institutional racism and add to that an American political system that’s failing.” Damon—who has donated money to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign, [according to the Hill](http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/257322-matt-damon-michael-douglas-among-stars-donating-to)—also criticized big banks and at one point assured the audience, “I’m not running for office.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4357006/matt-damon-mit-commencement-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4357006/matt-damon-mit-commencement-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Matt Damon Criticizes Donald Trump in MIT Commencement Speech","datePublished":"2016-06-03T19:10:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:06.635Z","description":"He bemoaned Donald Trump's rise to the Republican nomination","url":"https://time.com/4357006/matt-damon-mit-commencement-donald-trump/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91475bb06a07a17b/69889649196cf4eeba03bdfe/matt-damon-mit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91475bb06a07a17b/69889649196cf4eeba03bdfe/matt-damon-mit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Matt Damon Speaks at MIT 2016 Commencement Day","caption":"Matt Damon Speaks at MIT 2016 Commencement Day","creditText":"Paul Marotta/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4357006/matt-damon-mit-commencement-donald-trump/","name":"Matt Damon Criticizes Donald Trump in MIT Commencement Speech"}}]}] ```