Why Politicians Keep Misinterpreting Pop Culture

The Apocalypse Now Misstep

Over the weekend, former President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated meme on social media, casting himself as Robert Duvall’s character from the film “Apocalypse Now.” The image was accompanied by a quote suggesting Chicago was “about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”

Leaving aside the rhetoric of a political leader declaring war on an American city, the choice of character is baffling. Did anyone involved in creating this post actually see the movie? Duvall’s character, Lt. Col. Kilgore, is a disturbing figure. He wears a cavalry hat as a throwback to the 19th-century Indian wars and famously orders a napalm strike on a village while his helicopters blast Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”—a composer notoriously favored by Hitler.

Napalm is a horrific incendiary weapon that sticks to skin and causes severe burns while sucking oxygen from the air. The film uses it to show the dehumanizing horror of war. When Kilgore declares, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning,” it’s meant to repulse the audience, not inspire them. He is not a hero to be emulated. The meme’s alteration of the quote to be about “deportations” only makes the reference more nonsensical.

A Golden Age of Misreading

This isn't an isolated incident; it's part of a broader trend in what could sarcastically be called a golden age of misreading. It’s reminiscent of college students taping Jack Nicholson’s “you can’t handle the truth” speech from “A Few Good Men” to their door. While it's a famous line, it’s delivered at the climax of the film where Nicholson's character confesses to an illegal order and is promptly arrested. It’s a moment of hubris and downfall, not triumph.

Similarly, conservatives have adopted the phrase “Come and take it”—or its original Greek form, “molon labe,” from the movie “300”—as a defiant slogan. A Trump administration official even used the phrase to argue she would stand against “elites”. But again, the context is completely missed. After King Leonidas utters that line to the Persian army, they do, in fact, come and take it. The Spartans are defeated, and Leonidas dies. Is heroic defeat really the message they intend to send?

Idolizing the Antihero

This widespread lack of critical thinking, the kind honed in basic literature and film classes, leads to a bizarre idolization of characters meant to be villains. In the 1987 film “Wall Street,” Gordon Gekko’s mantra that “greed is good” was written to portray him as morally bankrupt. Actor Michael Douglas later expressed his surprise that business students and MBAs began to see Gekko as a role model.

Martin Scorsese’s 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street” went even further to show the depravity of its protagonist, yet Leonardo DiCaprio’s character became an antihero for a new generation of brokers. The film even touches on this phenomenon, showing how a magazine exposé meant to condemn the firm instead inspires more young people to join it.

When Satire Fails

The creators of the Amazon series “The Boys” set out to satirize America's superhero obsession by making them self-serving fascists. However, they found that the audience wasn't getting the message and had to make the lead villain, Homelander, more overtly evil. Showrunner Eric Kripke was stunned in 2020 to see a Trump supporter dressed as Homelander at a rally, prompting him to ask, “Um... are they actually watching the show?”.

This epidemic of misinterpretation led “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan to say he wants to create more movies about good guys. He acknowledged Walter White was an all-time great villain but said he’d rather be celebrated for creating someone inspiring. The irony is that when a new “Superman” film embraced the character’s classic moral righteousness, some conservative pundits complained he had gone “woke.”

The Danger of Lost Nuance

Some things are not complex. Superman is good; Homelander is evil. Lt. Col. Kilgore, Gordon Gekko, and Walter White are not role models. It is concerning enough that so many people miss these fundamental points. But when the person leading a political movement is among them—someone who once claimed the moral of “Citizen Kane” is to “get yourself a different woman”—it becomes tragic for everyone.