THE NEW STATESMAN
Donald Trump’s favourite Hollywood role model is Sylvester Stallone. At every one of his campaign stops, there is 2024 “Make America great again” (Maga) merch on sale – flags, posters, T-shirts – showing the 77-year-old Trump as Rambo wielding his bazooka with the message “No Man, no Woman, no Commie can stump him”. Another superimposes Trump’s head on to the ripped torso of Stallone’s boxing champ Rocky, a meme the former president has admiringly reposted on social media.
As Rocky says, “It ain’t how hard you hit… it’s how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” It’s an all-American narrative that fits Trump’s defiant campaign persona: a man hell-bent on revenge, channelling his grief and fury at losing the 2020 election into an all-too-plausible comeback story. And Americans can’t seem to get enough of his angertainment.
