President Donald Trump used a military speech to once again plug his wife’s movie, insisting that women are dragging their husbands to see the film multiple times.
Speaking at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, the president took a slight detour from lashing out at political foes and talking up his achievements to declare that Melania Trump was now a “movie star” with a very particular group of fans.
“Our country is truly blessed to have such a phenomenal first lady, he said. “And now she’s a movie star. Can you believe it? You know who loves that movie? The ladies. They go see it three or four times, they see it with their husbands.”
The president’s comments come almost two weeks after the first lady’s film, Melania, debuted globally on January 30, prompting a barrage of scathing reviews, including one from the Daily Beast that described it as an “abomination.”
The movie brought in $7.1 million in its opening weekend despite the $75 million investment from Jeff Bezos’ Amazon. Trump and his allies have been actively trying to tout it since.
But the latest backdrop for Trump’s movie promotion also happened to be one of the country’s largest army bases, which are not, in theory, meant to be politicized or used for commercial promotions.
Named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg, the base serves as the headquarters of the US Army’s Special Forces Command.
The president and the first lady traveled there on Friday to thank troops and meet with special forces who were involved in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
“To our great armed forces of the United States stationed all over the world: I have a nostalgia-filled message—Happy Valentine’s Day,” said Melania Trump, who introduced the president to the stage.
But the president’s speech felt more like his signature campaign rallies, with Trump taking aim at political foes, repeating election lies and going on bizarre rants about helicopters and a “discombulator”—the secret U.S. weapon he says was used to extract Maduro in darkness.
“The Russian equipment didn’t work, the Chinese equipment didn’t work,” he told the troops. “Everyone’s trying to figure out why it didn’t work. Someday you’re going to find out.”
Trump also hit out at former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who is now running for the U.S. Senate. He described Cooper as a “disaster” and blamed him for the death of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, who was fatally stabbed to death on a train last year by a repeat violent offender.
“This was the man, the governor, who allowed this man to get out,” he said. “She sat down and had her throat slit.”
And he warned troops that Democrats would rename Fort Bragg if returned to power, just as they did under the Biden administration when they changed the base to Fort Liberty—a move that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reversed last year.
“If we don’t win the midterms, they’ll take it off again,” he said.
Trump’s latest promotion for his wife’s movie comes after Melania Trump came under fire earlier this month for also plugging the documentary during a White House meeting with two freed Israeli-American hostages.
The often media-shy first lady allowed reporters into the White House Blue Room on Wednesday as she hosted Keith and Aviva Siegel, who were captured by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
During the meeting, the first lady recounted Aviva seeing her in New York last January, seeking help for her husband.
“It was captured on camera and available to see in my new film, Melania,” she said. “It was very emotional.”
However, things got a little awkward when a reporter asked her if she felt it was appropriate to use an official White House event to promote her film.
“It is not promotion,” she clapped back.
“We are here celebrating the release of the hostages; of Aviva and Keith. They were in Washington, D.C., and they said they would like to come over to thank me and to give hugs. There’s nothing to do with promotion.”
The post Trump Claims Surprising Group Keeps Going Back to Melania’s Movie appeared first on The Daily Beast.
