"The orange idiot" — When The Young and the Restless' Eric Braeden faced the devastating California wildfire and took an indirect shot at Trump

Eric Braeden, who plays Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless, recently lost his home to the Pacific Palisades fires in California. While the actor posted videos of the fires raging behind his home, he also posted still photographs of various parts of his property before the fires. Additionally, Braeden appeared on various podcasts and news channels to discuss the fires.

In January 2025, he appeared on CNN, where he condemned the Republican President-elect, Donald Trump. Braeden criticized Trump for blaming California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat candidate, as the reason behind the LA fires.

"To be very frank with you, I think everyone is really trying to do their damn best, ok? And some idiot - the orange idiot - went on television...and claimed all kinds of things about Newsom and California and the water distribution. All nonsense."

He called out the media misreporting while denouncing all the characters involved in political deceptions as:

"Outrageous! And very damaging to our nation."

He further claimed America was a great nation, and California was one of the most productive states while referring to his German roots. He also suggested it was a form of fascism that pushed people to simplify complex problems and worried that America could be in the grip of such ideology.

"I come from a nation that believed in fascist ideology for a while...We certainly will not want to go into that again. But we are close to it," the actor shared.

The veteran actor spoke about arriving in the country in 1960 and living in the great nation for a long time.

Meanwhile, Eric Braeden debuted as Victor Newman in February 1980 on the long-running CBS daily soap The Young and the Restless. CBS's The Young and the Restless premiered in March 1973 and presented the relationship dynamics of various influential families in the fictional Genoa City.

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A quick look at The Young and the Restless star Eric Braeden

Eric Braeden spoke to CNN about the LA wildfires (Image via YouTube/@CNN_News 18)

Eric Braeden/Gudegast is an American actor of German origin. He was born in April 1941 as Hans-Jörg Gudegast in Bredenbek, Germany. An athlete in his younger days, Braeden won the Track and Field for Germany National Team Championship in 1958. Besides Track and Field, he also played soccer and tennis, while being a boxer.

Baeden started his acting career in 1961 with Operation Eichmann, followed by the television drama, Combat! While his most famous work has been in The Young and the Restless, some of the other mentionable titles where he worked are The Rat Patrol, The Mask of Sheba, 100 Rifles, Gunsmoke, Death Scream, The Bold and the Beautiful, and many more.

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The Young and the Restless: Current plot dynamics of Eric Braeden's Victor

Victor Newman of Newman Enterprises, played by Eric Braeden on The Young and the Restless, has been through a harrowing experience recently, as he got shot by Ian Ward while saving his family.

The Newman family managed to eliminate the evil run of criminals Jordan Howard and Ian Ward for the time being. While Aunt Jordan drank poisoned tea and killed herself, Ian had a shooting round with Victor, leading to both men being injured by gunshots. Although presumed dead, Ian Ward is currently alive with no updates on his whereabouts.

Meanwhile, Victor Newman is back from hospital and is recuperating at his ranch. He has gathered his family around him and plans to continue his feud with his longtime rivals, the Abbott family.

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For more updates on Braeden's character, Victor Newman, stay tuned to The Young and the Restless every weekday.