Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks was on last Saturday evening's episode of CNN's "The Axe Files," and he had a lot to say about President Donald Trump's continuous attacks on mainstream media. Reflecting on Trump's first year as president, Hanks recalled that prior to the election he said he didn’t think Americans would ever elect a man like Trump.
"If I had said instead, if that happens [...] neo-Nazis are going to hold torchlight parades in Charlottesville and Pocahontas jokes will be said in front of the Navajo code talkers. That would have been just as hellacious in imagination, I think, as what we have," Hanks said in an interview with host David Axelrod for "The Axe Files."
When Axel asked Hanks about President Trump publicly targetting and endangering news organizations for publishing stores he doesn't agree with, the actor said it concerns him, "because it's monkeying around with our Constitution." He is also concerned about Trump's attempt to discredit the media in the eyes of the American people.
"It is relatively obvious, I think, what is trying to go forward, when you tear down these institutions to a level of, so you can't believe anything that is in any of them," Hanks said. "That raises the stock of those agenda-filled other institutions and whatnot, so that if you can't believe them, well, that means you get to believe some of the other stuff that is in these."
It gets to the point that you can't believe any institution that disseminates information.
“They’re throwing dirt and oil into a bucket of water so that it all becomes undrinkable after a while,” Hanks said.
Hanks described Trump’s attacks as “something more subtle and more insidious” than shutting down the press.
“I think it has fingerprints from other …[totalitarian] governments ... who’ve said, ‘We can’t shut them down because that will cause outrage, but we can denigrate them, we can call them names, we can tell people those are not the facts,’ that’s what he’s saying."
When Trump attacks the freedom of the press, he is eradicating the protections of the First Amendment. This changes our country at its core.
“We are not the United States of America without the First Amendment,” Hanks added.
But many voiced their opinion on Twitter, not in agreement with Hanks, but instead ridiculing the actor for criticizing their president, and Hollywood's involvement in politics.
At least a few people seemed to appreciate the interview and what Hanks had to say.
What did you think after watching the interview?
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