EXETER, New Hampshire — Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Costner joined former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at a rally Monday night on the eve of the New Hampshire.

Several hundred people filled a hall at Exeter High School to hear Buttigieg — and Costner, who joked that he was as surprised to be in New Hampshire as the audience was to see him.

Costner did not cite any particular accomplishments or policies that drew him to Buttigieg, but rather cited his apparent ability to listen to others, in an age of hateful rhetoric on both sides.

“Our language towards each other, it’s getting meaner. It’s driving out of control. Our differences, once recognizable as Democrat and Republican, or liberal versus conservative, has shifted dangerously.

“Our country is taking sides against itself. And the message is blunt. And if you’re not with me, you’re against me.”

Buttigieg, he said, could provide the answer.

“The person that I’m voting for … is also going to be someone who listens. I found Pete to be that way. He doesn’t compete to be the loudest. His silences are those of someone who’s thinking.”

Though he said he did not come to criticize anyone, Costner took a few subtle shots at President Donald Trump, referring to him — not by name — as “short on talent and conscience.”

Costner also delivered an implicit criticism of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the “democratic socialist” who leads Buttigieg in New Hampshire polls, telling the crowd that Buttigieg realized that “yesterday’s good ideas no longer apply.”

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.