--- title: Tom Hanks Scoffs at Idea of Donald Trump Presidency description: Tom Hanks says Donald Trump will be president "when spaceships come down filled with dinosaurs in red capes." canonical: https://time.com/4307323/tom-hands-donald-trump-spaceships-dinosaurs/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-25T22:41:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:01.242Z article:section: Politics og:title: Tom Hanks Says Donald Trump Will Be President When 'Spaceships Come Down' og:description: "America's already great," the actor said og:url: https://time.com/4307323/tom-hands-donald-trump-spaceships-dinosaurs/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt907022e3a8293789/69889096cf40a83395c42f97/gettyimages-524189174.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: &lt;&gt; at BFI Southbank on April 25, 2016 in London, England. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tom Hanks Says Donald Trump Will Be President When 'Spaceships Come Down' twitter:description: "America's already great," the actor said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt907022e3a8293789/69889096cf40a83395c42f97/gettyimages-524189174.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tom Hanks Says Donald Trump Will Be President When 'Spaceships Come Down' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=43c3f0e3-63ed-4a54-87f9-7dafd2d17c5c&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why It's So Hard to Attack Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Why It's So Hard to Attack Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X3BpgQ9x.m3u8) (3:13)  _Published 2016-03-02. Now, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are attempting to beat him at his own game—but will any attacks against Trump actually stick?_  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Apr 25, 2016 10:41 PM UTC  Tom Hanks at BFI Southbank on April 25, 2016 in London, England. Tom Hanks at BFI Southbank on April 25, 2016 in London, England. Fred Duval—2016 Fred Duval  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Apr 25, 2016 10:41 PM UTC Tom Hanks says Donald Trump will be president “when spaceships come down filled with dinosaurs in red capes.” Speaking to [Sky News ](http://news.sky.com/story/1684988/tom-hanks-mocks-trumps-white-house-hopes)on the red carpet at the London premiere of his new movie, _A Hologram for the King,_ Hanks also took issue with Trump’s central campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” “America’s already great so I don’t know what he is talking about,” said the Oscar-winning actor. Hanks, like many of his fellow Hollywood actors, is backing Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He joined Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Jessica Alba and more for a Clinton [fundraiser last year. ](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kim-kardashian-kanye-tom-hanks-813759) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Everybody knows what they're getting in Donald Trump. You've seen him on TV and interviews, so it's hard to attack him like you would a conventional politician because everybody has heard of him already. And it's pretty hard to reset that with a single jibe. [ MUSIC ] Over the next couple of weeks we're going to see all of these candidates and outsiders launching massive last ditch effort to stop Donald Trump, before the March 15th winner take all primary's. It' really too soon to tell if this will work, but ultimately It's now or never. When Donald Trump first started running a lot of the other candidates didn't really take him seriously, and so they didn't bother attacking him. They were much more concerned with fighting each other for the particular spot, whether it be the establishment or the conservative spot. There it is, the memorized twenty five second speech. Donald Trump is the master of insults and it's hard to beat him at his own game. When Mexico sends it's people. They're bringing drugs. Their rapists and some I assume are good people. And he has a particular gift at figuring out what is the thing that is going to most bother you. Low energy individual. So if you are going up against Trump they have to figure out. How to insult him in an equally devastating way and I don't know that the attacks that we've heard so far are actually going to work. Let me ask for a full length mirror. Maybe to make sure his pants weren't wet. I don't know. Then He's not a politician so there's not a record of votes that he took or bills that he sponsored or actions that he took. So a lot of that just becomes like well, yeah, I said that one time and now I'm saying this. And so people don't mind. Would never do that. [ LAUGH ] Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have spoken up a lot more directly going after him. He's not faced some of these attacks. So some of them we just don't know whether they will work or not. Or it's possible that they may work but they could turn out to be more useful to Democrats down the road. I think you already see Clinton's campaign portraying Trump as the divider and Hillary is the Uniter . >> America never stopped being great we have to make America whole. I was told by the campaign that they felt that the republican field had tried to define Trump a little too late and if they would not make the same mistake I don't think you're going to see Hillary herself attacking Trump. I think you're gonna see Bill Clinton and her surrogate certainly, attacking Trump. She wants to remain a very positive messenger. Almost in a Ronald Reagan kind of sense, the optimism of morning in America. Today is more love and kindness. Whereas, they would portray Donald Trump as night in America. The thing though is that Trump is wining the Republican primaries based largely off of white support and when it comes to general election, given all the constituencies that he's offended, will he still have the same power. Will he still be able to win, and will any of these attacks start to stick? And I think the Clinton campaign is betting on that they will. 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