\n<\/p>\n
Folks, he\u2019s done it again. It\u2019s been a little more than a week since President Donald Trump<\/strong> embraced a sporting discipline from foreign shores<\/a> over traditional American athletics\u2026and now he\u2019s turning on his base again. This time, he\u2019s aligning himself with the newest iteration<\/a> of Superman<\/em>\u2014yes, the same movie that many of MAGA\u2019s loudest voices are furiously boycotting<\/a>. It\u2019s another curious move<\/a> from Trump, one that many might argue is intended as a distraction<\/a> from his administration\u2019s creeping authoritarianism<\/a>. But the fact remains that he\u2014or, rather, his workplace social media account\u2014is presenting him as an allegedly \u201cwoke\u201d undocumented immigrant. It sure is perplexing!<\/p>\n Pundits on the right have likely been preparing their arguments against James Gunn<\/strong>\u2019s Superman<\/em> long before it was released. Between the Gamergate-like obsession some conservatives have<\/a> with comic book properties and Gunn\u2019s longstanding public contempt<\/a> for Donald Trump, there was probably no way the new DC film could have pleased red America unless it was basically Sound of Freedom<\/em> with capes and x-ray vision<\/a>. So when Gunn described his film\u2019s protagonist as an \u201cimmigrant\u201d who expressed \u201ckindness\u201d in a recent interview, the Fox News chattering class lined up to castigate the movie<\/a>\u2014using language very similar to those of Nazi leaders opposed to the \u201cmortal code\u201d demonstrated in 1940s-era Superman<\/em> comics, as Anthony Breznican<\/strong> noted for Vanity Fair<\/em><\/a> this week.<\/p>\n Gunn has brushed off the criticism, saying he doesn\u2019t have \u201canything to say to anybody\u201d about the MAGA-world response. His younger brother, actor Sean Gunn<\/strong> (who appears in the film as Maxwell Lord), was more caustic, Variety<\/em> reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMy reaction to [MAGA outrage] is that it is exactly what the movie is about. We support our people, you know? We love our immigrants,” Sean Gunn said.<\/p>\n “Yes, Superman is an immigrant, and yes, the people that we support in this country are immigrants, and if you don\u2019t like that, you\u2019re not American. People who say no to immigrants are against the American way.\u201d<\/p>\n It would certainly be nice to believe that Trump, stung by the younger Gunn\u2019s words, scrambled to place himself on the right side of comic character history\u2014and that that\u2019s why the White House shared an altered version<\/a> of the new movie\u2019s poster<\/a> across its social media channels depicting the convicted felon<\/a> as the Kryptonian refugee.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s far more likely that the president saw which side was winning, and went with it. According to The Hollywood Reporter<\/em><\/a>, despite the MAGA boycott of the movie, Superma<\/em>n is already a box office smash. A follow-up message posted by the White House<\/a> Friday night seems to confirm that Trump chose clout over conservatism, writing, \u201cNowhere in the Constitution does it say we can\u2019t post banger memes.\u201d True, but if those memes seem to undercut the arguments of your biggest fans, they do seem odd to choose!<\/p>\n Others seem to agree that Trump\u2019s apparent affinity with the caped crusader is an odd match, including California Governor Gavin Newsom<\/strong>, who (like Gunn) noted<\/a> \u201cSuperman was an undocumented immigrant\u201d in response to Trump\u2019s altered image.<\/p>\n Not to second-guess Newsom\u2019s social media team\u2014which certainly has its work cut out for it<\/a>\u2014but Superman\u2019s origin story is pretty well known by now. Fewer people, perhaps, are aware that within DC lore, Superman\u2019s nemesis Lex Luthor eventually became president<\/a>, one that many fans argue was more competent<\/a> and less problematic<\/a> than our current one. That, I say with resigned exhaustion, might be a more fruitful vein to mine if both sides insist on continuing down this tiresome, tiresome path.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n