Clint Eastwood on 2020 election: 'The best thing we could do is just get Mike Bloomberg in there'

Clint Eastwood, who expressed support for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election, appears to be switching gears in 2020.

Eastwood, 89, said in a Wall Street Journal interview published Friday that he approves of “certain things that Trump’s done,” but wishes the president would act “in a more genteel way, without tweeting and calling people names. I would personally like for him to not bring himself to that level."

“The politics has gotten so ornery,” Eastwood added.

The actor and director did not explicitly announce a presidential endorsement, but said he thought “the best thing we could do is just get Mike Bloomberg in there.”

USA TODAY has reached out to Eastwood's representative for further comment.

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In 2016, Eastwood told Esquire that if he had to pick between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, “I’d have to go for Trump."

“He's just saying what's on his mind,” Eastwood said at the time about the president-to-be. "And sometimes it's not so good. And sometimes it's … I mean, I can understand where he's coming from, but I don't always agree with it."

He added to Esquire: “Secretly, everybody's getting tired of political correctness, kissing up. ... Everybody’s walking on eggshells. We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren't called racist."

Regarding where his political affiliations lie, Eastwood told the WSJ he's always in "a state of evolution" and described himself as a libertarian: “Somebody who has respect for other people’s ideas and is willing to learn constantly.”

Eastwood made headlines in 2012 for interviewing an empty chair representing President Obama during the Republican National Convention and served as mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

“I was a Republican, but people never thought about their parties except at the national level," Eastwood told the WSJ. "I drank a lot of tea and chatted with people. I told people ‘I’ll fix this, and I’ll fix that.’ ”

Contributing: Natalie DiBlasio, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Clint Eastwood shows support for Michael Bloomberg in 2020 election