WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� is embracing perhaps Hollywood's most memorable drill sergeant to portray his vision of a hardened military and mock the Biden administration's embrace of the LGBTQ+ community serving openly.
Trump's recent rallies have featured a video with clips of as Marine Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in 1987 classic Vietnam War film 鈥淔ull Metal Jacket.鈥� Ermey's character was known for his vulgar and at times racist outbursts as he taunts and bullies recruits.
Those clips, captioned 鈥淭HEN," are juxtaposed against clips of people expressing support for LGBTQ+ rights and drag performers, captioned 鈥淣OW鈥� and 鈥淭HE BIDEN HARRIS MILITARY.鈥�
The video ends with a shot from the movie, a scene before the recruits were sent to Vietnam, captioned with 鈥淟ET鈥橲 MAKE OUR MILITARY GREAT AGAIN.鈥� The video was shown at several Trump rallies before he on social media on Saturday.
Trump the growing acceptance of transgender people, including the use of pronouns and transgender women in women's sports, drawing some of the biggest applause lines at his rallies by pledging to restrict them.
Trump earlier this month hailed the performance by Ermey, who served in the Marines as a drill sergeant before acting.
鈥淗e was supposed to get the Academy Award,鈥� Trump told his audience in Wisconsin, saying he was denied the honor because 鈥渉e wasn鈥檛 part of the establishment.鈥�
In using the movie to illustrate Trump鈥檚 ideal military, the campaign borrowed from what is recognized as an anti-war film. Never mind that the film is about Vietnam, for which Trump , despite having attended high school at New York Military Academy.
Vivian Kubrick, the late filmmaker's daughter, said she believes her father would have embraced Trump and forgiven his use of an anti-war film to make his point about building a powerful military.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 primarily what FMJ is about, the shocking and complicated paradoxes of human nature,鈥� Vivian Kubrick Sunday on the social media platform X.
鈥淎nd thus, on this tooth and claw planet, you need a very strong military 鈥� so I鈥檓 going to stick with the idea that FMJ footage was used primarily because of its powerful, realistic portrayal of boot camp, juxtaposed with the entirely demoralizing and inappropriate injection of WOKE ideology into the USA military,鈥� she added. 鈥淲hich I agree with myself and which I鈥檓 certain my father would have agreed with.鈥�
Ermey's 鈥淔ull Metal Jacket鈥� co-star Matthew Modine, who played Private Joker in the film and is in some of the clips included in Trump's video, saw things differently.
鈥淚ronically, Trump has twisted and profoundly distorted Kubrick鈥檚 powerful anti-war film into a perverse, homophobic, and manipulative tool of propaganda,鈥� Modine .
The Associated Press
