‘Gladiator II’ Is A MAGA Metaphor

Authored by Richard Porter via RealClearPolitics,

Hollywood sequels rarely achieve the magic of the original, but “Gladiator II” comes close.  Except for the familiar populist framework of a lone man taking on “the system” against all odds, the echoes to the original are sufficiently distant that the new movie feels fresh and original. 

Plus, it turns out that Ridley Scott’s blockbuster is a timely, if unwitting, metaphor for Donald Trump’s own sequel, which is off to a better start than his original. This time he won the popular vote and his transition is smoother, most recently featuring Trump’s triumphant trip to Paris, Kash Patel’s appointment to lead the FBI, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s obeisant visit to Mar-a-Lago.  

This is what Trump’s “revenge” looks like. Compared to a Gladiator-inspired populist revolt, it’s both genteel and more satisfying: What red-blooded American viewer doesn’t enjoy seeing Trump arm-wrestling with Macron again and making a nanny-state bully like Trudeau heel, or seeing him appoint bold populists like Patel, Bobby Kennedy Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard to lead, and turn upside down, politicized government agencies that sought to do him in?

Ancient Rome has always been both an inspiration and a cautionary tale for America’s leaders. George Washington modeled on Cincinnatus by relinquishing his military power to enhance civilian government, and he frequently quoted the Roman senator Cato, who sacrificed his life in support of the Roman Republic. The Founders chose an eagle as our national symbol – the symbol of the Roman god Jupiter used to represent Roman power. Both John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams idolized the Roman orator Cicero. More ominously, Abraham Lincoln’s stage-actor assassin John Wilkes Booth played the role of Mark Antony in an 1864 New York City performance of “Julius Caesar,” with his brother Edwin playing Brutus. And as he leapt from the president’s box in Ford’s Theater, Booth shouted “Sic semper tyrannis,” the words attributed to Brutus as he killed Ceasar.

Over the course of our nation’s history, comparisons between the United States and ancient Rome have focused on the fall of the latter as a caution for the former. The comparisons range from financial mismanagement to far-flung and over-extended military commitments.

So, Roman lessons for the U.S. are nothing new. Ridley Scott, who produced and directed “Gladiator II,” drew parallels between his movie and contemporary American politics in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, but – this is fun! – he’s spectacularly wrong about both. 

Scott told the Hollywood Reporter that he modeled the heavy in Gladiator II – a creepy, Machiavellian opportunist whom Denzel Washington brings to life – on Donald Trump. “He evolved into a very rich merchant selling shit to the Roman armies – food, oil, wine, cloth, weapons, everything,” Scott said. “He maybe had a million men spread around Europe. So he was a billionaire at the time, so why wouldn’t he [have ambitions toward the throne]? ‘Why not me?’ He’s also a gangster – very close to Trump. A clever gangster. He creates chaos and from chaos he can evolve.”

Is anyone surprised that a Hollywood liberal misses the point about Trump in his own movie? Ridley Scott has it precisely backwards: The Trump parallel is not the scheming creature of the Roman political swamp, but the hero, a prince who would not bow to those who sought to crush and kill him. It’s Trump’s rivals, scheming, duplicitous power seekers seeking to whip up hate, who are whispering in the ear of a non-compos mentis leader.

And what ultimately drove the young prince to become the populist leader of Rome? As he approaches the inevitable climatic death match, the Gladiator himself reprises the core idea from the first film: “The dream that was Rome.” It’s a fragile dream of a Republic that will only be achieved by taking back power from corrupt, weak leaders and scheming politicians.

The gladiator’s speech about Rome applies to contemporary America. It’s about recapturing the American Dream and refreshing government of, by, and for the forgotten people – instead of the powerful – the very ideas that bring cheers to a Trump rally.

With that in mind, consider the words ascribed to Marcus Aurelius – words that the film’s hero and villain both quote: “The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury” or “The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.”

Trump’s many enemies, the folks whipping up fear that he will use government power to go after political enemies as the Democrats did to him, misunderstand MAGA “revenge,” as Trump made clear again during his long Sunday interview with Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.” Government institutions that have been infused with politics and corrupted away from their purpose are not reformed by changing the politics, but by purging the politics. 

Trump’s revenge is to be different, to empower allies to reveal and reform corruption, and to reduce the power of government over the people instead of expanding it.

Nothing will crush his haters more than being a great president. “I’m really looking to make our country successful,” Trump told Kristen Welker. “I’m not looking to go back into the past. I’m looking to make our country successful. Retribution will be through success. If we can make our success â?? this country successful, that would be my greatest, that would be such a great achievement. Bring it back.”

Trump’s 2024 victory against all the forces arrayed against him is just the opening act of his sequel. Now the fun really begins. Someday, Hollywood will understand what most Americans already see: Donald Trump is a gladiator for the dream that is America.

Richard Porter is a lawyer in Chicago and a former policy advisor to President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle.