by Nathaniel R
George Clooney in "Three Kings"
Happy Veteran's Day to all reading who have served or have loved ones that have. I've been thinking more about the military than usual lately. That's probably partially because our Montgomery Clift centennial series featured so many military films. But it's especially due to the US election where there was a lot of discussion about mail-in voting which the military especially has been doing for hundreds of years (their votes generally arrives late due to absentee ballots). The military is not a monolithic voting block and contains Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.
After the jump please enjoy pictures of beautiful men in military movies and ignore the text if you can't stomach a political rant right now...
Denzel Washington in "Glory"
Gary Cooper as "Sergeant York"
Anthony Mackie in "The Hurt Locker"
Montgomery Clift in "The Search"
The knowledge that the military vote was even up for grabs left me bewildered and shell-shocked yet again. How was T**** not pulling just 0% of their vote. What has the country become? Why would any single (let alone thousands) military person vote for a man who cheated his way out of service and who repeatedly disrespected them and even ridiculed fallen or captured soldiers? How did any military Republicans vote for him in 2016 to begin with while memories of him attacking Gold Star Families were so fresh? It's like asking for a horrific defeat in battle to align with those that don't have your back and never will.
Luke Bracey and Andrew Garfield in "Hacksaw Ridge"
Tom Cruise in "Top Gun"
Meg Ryan and Matt Damon in "Courage Under Fire"
Jim Caviezel in "The Thin Red Line"
American culture is, frankly, a complete and utter shitshow with millions of people perpetually giving over to their basest (and most racist) impulses while also perpetually voting against their own self interests. Any military members voting for GOP politicians are doing just that. The GOP only cares about the military insomuch as they can harness it to get people to vote against their own interests, and of course to line the pockets of their friends and cronies with lucrative contracts. But they 100% and undebatably do not care about veterans or you'd NEVER see them aligning with a man who repeatedly attacks fallen soldiers and you'd never hear stories of how difficult veterans have it when it comes to good and timely quality health care.
Jake Gyllenhaal in "Jarhead"
Charles Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen in "Wings"
Chris Evans in "Captain America"
MIchael Peña in "Fury"Here at TFE HQ we've been feeling elated that Biden and Harris will be in the White House come January, while side-eyeing with mordant giggles and genuine worry the GOP efforts to undermine the democratic process that's been in place since the founding of the country and keep T*** in the White House against the will of the people. Nobody has ever attempted a coup before in the US but we're seeing it being attempted for the first time. (Hopefully ineptly.) Everyone, including every Republican should be horrified and realize that the GOP is no longer pro-Freedom or pro-Democracy; they only want power.
In short after Trump is dragged out of the White House we still have a tremendous amount of work to do in order to try to bring sanity back to this divided nation. But how to even begin to do that when what we're essentially divided about it as stark as Good vs Evil? How do you bring Evil back around to good? How do you get people who have been absorbing anti-democratic propaganda for decades (hi Fox News) to start caring about actual facts not to mention to start caring about their neighbors?
Richard Gere as Louis Gossett Jr in "An Officer and a Gentlemen"
Burt Lancaster in "From Here To Eternity"
Eric Bana in "Black Hawk Down"
What is it about the notion of "liberty and justice for all" and, oh, not going bankrupt if you get sick that makes Republicans so enraged and offended (beyond, you know, that liberty and justice and health care for all would benefit black people as much as it would benefit them)?
I've genuinely been wondering. What did Republicans even believe in in the first place that they've all so willingly, and in many cases enthusiastically, followed a buffonish cult leader in lockstep right off the democratic cliff while he pisses on the very things they've always claimed to love: the constitution, freedom, the military, personal accountability, and the like.
Montgomery Clift in "From Here To Eternity"
How will the country ever heal?