Bryan Cranston says former President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” 2016 campaign slogan could be considered a “racist” expression.
“When I see the ‘Make America Great Again,’ my comment is: Do you accept that that could possibly be construed as a racist remark?” the former “Breaking Bad” star asked in a Sunday interview on CNN’s “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?”
“And most people, a lot of people go, ‘How could that be racist — Make America Great Again?’” Cranston, 66, said of Trump’s famed slogan, which was splashed across bright red hats and other campaign gear during the businessman’s 2016 White House race against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“Just ask yourself, from an African American experience, when was it ever great in America for the African American?” Cranston asked Wallace.
“When was it great?” the Academy Award-nominated actor asked.
“So if you’re making it great again, it’s not including them,” Cranston told Wallace in a response to a question about recent comments he made on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” that critical race theory was “essential to be teaching” in schools.
Cranston, a critic of Trump, repeated his assertion to Wallace that critical race theory, an academic framework studying how racism has impacted institutions and policy, should be part of Americans’ educational experience.
“I think it’s imperative that it’s taught that we look at our history — much the same I think that Germany has looked at their history [and] involvement in [World Wars I and II] and embrace it and say, ‘This is where we went wrong. This is how it went wrong. This is why it can’t go wrong again,’” Cranston said.
“And I think [Germany has] done a very commendable job in doing so. But the United States really hasn’t,” the performer added.
“You present it and say, well, 400 years of slavery, yeah, but we’re moving on. And it’s like, no, let’s really discuss it,” Cranston told Wallace. “How did that happen? How did we get to a point where we treated other human beings as slaves?” Cranston asked, according to a transcript of the program.
As far as the “Make America Great Again” motto, Cranston said critical race theory could “teach us in the woke world to open up and accept the possibilities that our privilege has created blind spots for us.”
“And maybe I haven’t seen what is really happening yet in all my years,” he said.