Please Advise! Do MAGA Movie Fans Cheer for the Villains?

[Editor’s note: Steve Burgess is an accredited spin doctor with a PhD in Centrifugal Rhetoric from the University of SASE, situated on the lovely campus of PO Box 7650, Cayman Islands. In this space he dispenses PR advice to politicians, the rich and famous, the troubled and well-heeled, the wealthy and gullible.]

Dear Dr. Steve,

I recently watched Die Hard. Why does Trump seem to come across as Hans Gruber and leader of the Conservative Party of Canada Pierre Poilievre seem to come across as Harry Ellis?

Thanks,

Fred Tab Tyee reader

Dear Fred,

Thanks for your letter. That's certainly a holiday tradition — the Polar Bear Plunge, preceded by Hans Gruber’s.

For those who need help catching up. Hans Gruber and Harry Ellis are very different kinds of villains in Die Hard, the 1988 Bruce Willis movie that has become a contrarian Christmas favourite.

Dr. Steve cannot agree with your characterization of Trump as a real-life Hans Gruber. Trump is more goober than Gruber. As portrayed by the great Alan Rickman, Gruber is a criminal mastermind. Not once does he boast about acing a dementia test by correctly identifying a rhinoceros. Say what you like about Hans but the man had a plan, and it wasn't invading Greenland.

As for Poilievre resembling slimy Nakatomi Corp. executive Harry Ellis (“Hans, bubby, I'm your white knight!”), the Conservative leader only wishes he could be that convincingly smarmy. Poilievre couldn't pull off a smile like that unless maybe he saw an owl snatching a baby raccoon. He seems more like Gordon Gekko crossed with Travis Bickle.

But your letter got Dr. Steve thinking, Fred. Given the attitudes and sensibilities of Trump supporters, they must respond differently to popular entertainment. How do MAGA people watch movies and TV?

Filmmakers love to create heroes and villains, good guys and bad. We are expected to react appropriately. But if your chosen politicians are busy destroying the rule of law, violently suppressing dissent and covering their crimes with bald-faced lies, how do you perceive those stereotypical cinematic characterizations? Through what lens do the MAGA faithful view entertainment?

Imagine 10-year-old Stephen Miller, clutching the bag of popcorn he stole from an immigrant child, sitting in the theatre watching Seven and cheering for Kevin Spacey. Kids need role models and Miller surely had plenty, from Hannibal Lecter to Tom Ripley. Young Stephen must have sat watching Apollo 13 and as the beleaguered astronauts struggled to overcome potentially fatal malfunctions, he rooted for the cold, black void of space.

We go to the movies seeking to identify with the characters, hoping we might find ourselves reflected onscreen. With MAGA types, that could get ugly. When they watch Contagion are they cheering for the virus? In The Last of Us, for Cordyceps? On the plane, for the snakes? Are they eagerly awaiting some trawler that will turn SpongeBob into a loofah?

It's been pointed out that the new Star Wars series, Andor, can be interpreted as a primer for resisting the Trump administration. Do MAGA viewers grasp the implications of this? How do they feel about being on Team Death Star?

JD Vance says ICE victim Renee Good, in her minivan filled with stuffed animals, was a dangerous terrorist. Clearly, in MAGA World, there would never have been a second episode of Dukes of Hazzard. Bo and Luke would have been shot dead in the first half-hour. The entire Fast & Furious franchise would be a 90-second YouTube clip hosted by a bloodthirsty Kristi Noem.

But perhaps it's not so much that MAGA believers are cheering for Wile E. Coyote against the Roadrunner, or Darth Vader against Luke Skywalker. Perhaps they are just keying on different shows, the ones featuring anti-heroes. They're pulling for Don Corleone in The Godfather, Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, Tony Montana in Scarface, Joe Pesci in Goodfellas. They don't watch Die Hard and aspire to be Hans Gruber — they watch The Wolf of Wall Street and aspire to be the Wolf.

When crafting its dramas Hollywood depends on a certain shared audience sensibility, a predictable stimulus-and-response. Does that still work? MAGA has its own ideas about what a happy ending looks like. In 2026, it's Kash Patel and the FBI coming after E.T., and this time, the little alien bastard is not getting a phone call. Deal with it, libs.