Presidential candidate Donald Trump has shared a bizarre campaign ad targeting transgender and LGBTQ+ military veterans.
The clip, shared on Sunday (13 October) aimed to compare his plans for the armed with those of his Democratic rival for the White House, Kamala Harris, attacking LGBTQ+ service personnel.
“We will not have a woke military,” Trump wrote in the post on X/Twitter.
In particular, the ad targets transgender military veteran and assistant secretary for health, Rachel Levine, by showing a clip of her celebrating Pride month.
Levine, the first out transgender four-star officer, has been an outspoken member of the Biden administration and an advocate for LGBTQ+ and health rights. Since becoming assistant secretary in March 2021, she has faced transphobic attacks from Republicans and anti-LGBTQ+ pundits.
Biden administration officials have branded the attacks against her as “beneath contempt,” adding that she is a “widely respected public health official”.
Naval officer and drag queen Joshua Kelley, also known as Harpy Daniels, is also featured in the attack ad, by using several of his TikTok clips as examples of the “woke military.” Since joining the navy in 2016, he has served overseas and been awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medal.
Interspersed with generic rock music, the ad purports to show Trump’s alternative with clips from Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 Vietnam War film, Full Metal Jacket – seemingly unaware that the story is critical of the treatment of US Marines during the conflict. It even highlights moments where recruits are violently abused by the drill instructor, gunnery sergeant Hartman.
The film’s first half famously ends with private Leonard Lawrence, fatally shooting Hartman after being driven insane by the psychological abuse he has been subjected to during basic training.
The campaign ad appears to completely ignore this major detail, instead focusing on clips of the marines marching, along with the final message: “Let’s make our military great again.”
Trump’s recent speeches have increased concerns over the former president’s fitness to serve due to his age, after he claimed there was an audience at his televised debate with Harris when there was none.
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