Bryan Cranston explains why 'Make America Great Again' could be considered 'a racist remark'

Bryan Cranston clearly understands The 1619 Project.

After recently defending critical race theory in a discussion with Bill Maher, the Breaking Bad actor went on CNN's Who's Talking to Chris Wallace? on Sunday to explain why the phrase "Make America Great Again" — the 2016 campaign slogan of former President Donald Trump — could be considered a racist sentiment.

"When I see 'Make America Great Again,' my comment is, 'Do you accept that that could possibly be construed as a racist remark?'" Cranston said to Wallace. "A lot of people go, 'How could that be racist, to make America great again?' I said, 'So just ask yourself from an African-American experience: When was it ever great in America for the African-American? So if you're making it great again, it's not including them.'"

Cranston continued, "It's to teach us, in the 'woke' world, to open up and accept the possibilities that our privilege has created blind spots for us. Maybe I haven't seen what's really happening, in all my years."

Spearheaded by journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, The 1619 Project was originally published as a special issue of the New York Times in 2019 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first ship of African slaves arriving in the colonies that became the United States and to serve as an analysis of the foundational impact of African slavery on American history. Hannah-Jones and her collaborators expanded the anthology to book length in 2021, and it was recently adapted into a documentary series on Hulu.

The 1619 Project has also come under scrutiny, along with the notion that slavery and its impact on race relations should be taught as a fundamental part of American history. Some commentators, like Maher in his argument with Cranston on a January episode of the Club Random podcast, see the framing as too cynical about America. Republican politicians like Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida have gone even further and now seem opposed to American schools teaching about the history of race at all.

Watch Cranston explain his position above.

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