Tom Hanks reaffirmed himself in the role of America's 'Dad' last night when he reassured an audience that their country was going to be alright during the Trump presidency.

During an evening that honoured Hanks' contribution to cinema, Hanks responded to suggestions that he should run against Donald Trump in 2020. Earlier in the week, documentary maker Michael Moore suggested that the Democrats should run their most beloved celebrities in the next election, suggesting people like Oprah and Hanks. 

"Democrats would be better off if they ran Oprah [Winfrey] or Tom Hanks,” said Moore. “Why don’t we run beloved people? We have so many of them."

Hanks responded by saying that he wanted to "strangle" Moore for suggesting him. He told Vulture that he didn't think he was qualified for the job. 

"Just because I'm an actor, I can give a good speech, I agree with that," he said. "But the concept of actually voting for someone just because they can do that? Then Monty Hall could have been president of the United States! I get what he's saying, I understand, but I don't buy my participation."

Although Hanks dismissed the suggestion that he would run for President, he was considered to be very presidential in his address to the audience on the night. Diverting from the standard acceptance speech, Hanks reassured everyone that they're going to be just fine. 

Here's an excerpt from the speech published by Vulture. 

We are going to be all right. America has been in worst places than we are at right now. In my own lifetime, our streets were in chaos, our generations were fighting each other tooth and nail, and every dinner table ended up being as close to a fist fight as our families would allow. We have been in a place where we looked at our leaders and wondered what the hell were they thinking of? We've had moments with administrations and politicians and leaders and Senators and governors where we asked ourselves, Are they lying to us? Or do they really believe in this? That's all right. We have this magnificent thing that is in place, it's a magnificent document, and it starts off with these phrases that if you're smart enough, you memorized in school, or, just read it enough so you learned it by heart, or, you kind of watched those things on ABC where they taught you little songs, and the song goes like, [sings] "We the People ... in Order to form a more perfect Union. establish Justice and insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare," and it goes on and on. That. That document is going to protect us, over and over again, whether or not our neighbors preserve and protect and defend it themselves.


We are going to be all right, because we constantly get to tell the whole world who we are. We constantly get to define ourselves as Americans. We do have the greatest country in the world. We may move at a slow pace, but we do have the greatest country in the world, because we are always moving towards a more perfect Union. That journey never ceases. It never stops. Sometimes, like in a Bruce Springsteen song, one step forward, two steps back. But we still, aggregately, move forward. We, who are a week into wondering what the hell just happened, will continue to move forward. We have to choose to do so. But we will move forward, because if we do not move forward, what is to be said about us?