Hollywood actor Tom Hanks added a new title to his resume, branding himself a historian while speaking with CNN‘s Christine Amanpour during commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the World War II invasion of Normandy. The CNN host pressed Hanks as to whether he was worried about the state of American democracy and freedom if former President Donald J. Trump retakes the White House in November.
“I think there’s always a reason to be worried about the short term,” Hanks replied, adding: “But I look at the longer term of what happened. I think, look, our constitution says, ‘We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union. That journey to a more perfect union has missteps in it. I can catalog them as much as you can, and you’re a professional journalist and I’m just a guy who makes movies and reads books.”
Amanpour interjected, calling Hanks a “historian” as well. “Okay, and a lay historian. I’ll take that too,” Hanks responded.
“Over the long term, however, we inevitably made progress towards, I think, that more perfect union,” the Hollywood actor continued before adding: “How does it come about? It comes about because, not because of somebody’s narrative of who is right or who is a victim or not. It comes out of the slow melding of the truth to the actual practical life that we end up living.”
Hank’s rambling response suggests that he is neither an apt historian nor someone who has thought very deeply about American democracy—especially in light of the Biden government’s unprecedented lawfare campaign against former President Trump. An incumbent President seeking to jail his top election opponent would appear to be a far greater threat to American democracy than anything elicited from Hank’s thoughts.
