Actor Bryan Cranston will vote for Hillary Clinton in this year’s presidential race because he agrees with the presumptive Democrat nominee’s “platform” — and thinks her chief rival, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, lacks the presidential qualities that have made President Obama so successful.
In an interview with the Daily Beast, the 60-year-old Breaking Bad star said it still doesn’t feel “real” to him that a “supreme narcissist” like Trump could become President of the United States.
Cranston told the Beast:
“He’s an anomaly to politics and an anomaly to the human race, as far as I’m concerned. He’s just a bizarre human being. I don’t think that’s a statement that anybody can even argue. ‘Is he a normal human being?’ I don’t think anybody can say, ‘Yeah, he’s pretty normal!’ No! He’s very, very far away from normal. Even if you agree with him, he’s still far away from normal, and we need a president like our current president, who I believe has shown the qualities we want in a president: restraint, introspection, diplomacy, thoughtfulness, sensitivity, intelligence, not to be hyperbolic, to be presidential, to be respectful, and to be patient. President Obama has the qualities that anyone would want, and I think a President Clinton would have those qualities as well. But we know that Donald Trump does not have that.”
Cranston, who previously called Trump’s unfiltered candor “refreshing,” said that while he disagrees with Trump’s rhetoric and policy proposals, he at least attempts to understand why many Americans support him.
“[W]hen I meet those who are voting for Donald Trump, I don’t try to disprove their interests,” the actor told the Beast. “I’m curious how they came to that position. But I think this is incredibly important: I don’t want to disrespect anyone’s opinion. This is how they feel. But I would be very interested and curious to see how they came to this decision.”
The self-professed Democrat went on to praise Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and the impact he has had on the 2016 race, saying that the insurgent candidate’s battle against Clinton made her a “better candidate, a stronger campaigner” and a “stronger debater.”
Cranston added that just because he supports Clinton for president does not mean that Republicans are “evil” or “villainous” in any way.
“They’re not. They love the country just as much as I do, and I think that’s a thing that we need to step away from,” he said. “We need to step away from making enemies and villains out of someone who has a different ideology than yours.”
Cranston’s latest film, The Infiltrator, about an undercover operation targeting Pablo Escobar’s money-laundering cronies, opened last weekend. The film took in $6.7 million over five days, landing in eighth place at the weekend box office.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum