Old and Busted: Full Metal Jacket. New hotness: Full MAGA Jacket? 

By this time, most readers probably have seen this moment from a recent Donald Trump rally. As part of his argument for strengthening the military, Trump blasted Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for transforming them into a transgender social-welfare organization -- an argument that goes back decades in one form or another. The late, great Rush Limbaugh argued for most of his career against using the military for social-policy experimentation, correctly declaring that militaries have two purposes -- to "kill people and break things," and should only be used for such missions when necessary.

Now that the military has gone from social-media experimentation to Full Transgender Wokery, Trump has made a compelling video argument for a reversion to Limbaugh's vision for the Pentagon. In doing so, Trump's team uses cuts from the Stanley Kubrick classic Full Metal Jacket along with social-media clips from transgender activists. And it's effective, to say the least, especially with the equally late-great R. Lee "Gunny" Ermey on screen:

Here's the video in stand-alone form, which Trump tweeted out Sunday afternoon:

WE WILL NOT HAVE A WOKE MILITARY! pic.twitter.com/zpWZhSKcEs

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2024

Democrats and the media had already spent the last month complaining that Trump had begun running "anti-transgender" ads as part of his battleground-state strategy. It's actually more of a taxpayer-priority argument, and Democrats and the media may be steamed that it's effective.  Trump used a Kamala Harris clip defending and even bragging about her actions to secure free transgender surgeries for California inmates, a position from which she still has not explicitly retreated. "Kamala is for they/them," the ads intone, "Donald Trump is for you."

The same applies to the military, although don't expect to see this video in a TV ad, thanks to the language and violence in it. Democrats and the media -- can I just combine the twins at some point? -- have the same complaint about this argument, and have added another: that Trump has taken the film clips out of context and put them into a meaning that Kubrick never intended.

Perhaps, says Vivian Kubrick, the daughter of Stanley and the film's composer, but Kubrick would have certainly endorsed the message this sends. Vivian agrees that the film is anti-war, but it is not anti-military or anti-strength. Her father would have deplored the wokery that Trump opposes as well as the fatal weakening of American strength that the Biden-Harris administration's policies will create if not changed soon:

TO THOSE WHO THINK MY FATHER WOULDN’T HAVE WANTED #TRUMP TO USE FMJ FOOTAGE

Here are my thoughts: I agree in principle that an anti-war movie is incongruous with promoting the idea of a tough non-woke US military and thus war itself - however - these are very dangerous and… https://t.co/0bSXz8nL3V

— Vivian Kubrick (@ViKu1111) October 13, 2024

And thus, on this tooth and claw planet, you need a very strong military - so I’m 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. Which I agree with myself and which I’m certain my father would have agreed with.

Truthfully, I believe my father (who supported Reagan), would very much approve of saving America, indeed the world, from the highly destructive Globalist forces threatening to take over this planet. And if that footage from FMJ helps Trump make the point that the US military needs properly trained, super tough, focused, dedicated warriors, and not introduce the demoralizing effects of woke-ism, and attracting people to join up simply to have their sexual reassignments paid for, then Trump has my blessing.

As it happens, I also have a friend connected to Full Metal Jacket -- and so do you. My Amiable Skeptics co-host and good friend Adam Baldwin sent me Vivian Kubrick's statement, along with his own personal endorsement of the message. Adam played "Animal Mother" in the film, who appears in the second half (not in the boot camp sequences), and he became good friends with Ermey as well. One has to imagine, given Gunny's commentaries on politics and the media, he would also endorse Vivian Kubrick's statement, if not Trump himself. (Ermey endorsed Trump in 2016 before passing away in 2018.)

As for the prominent anti-war theme of FMJ, that is hardly discordant with Trump's argument either. Trump believes in peace through strength, and that weakness invites confrontation and conflict. Having a military focused on the Limbaughian goals of deadliness and mastery of arms rather than on social justice policies makes conflict easier to avoid. Just ask the Israelis, who learned a very hard lesson on the dangers of letting deterrence evaporate through weakness and unwillingness to face up to dangerous threats. In that sense, this argument fits perfectly within Trump's foreign policy approach. 

Kubrick may not be around to speak for himself, but Vivian not only knew her father's mind on such matters but helped him create the film in question. That should settle the "issue" about the film's use in this context, as well as clarify the nature of the real issue. However, having Stanley around to rebut these critics a la Annie Hall might have been fun.