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Sylvester Stallone has portrayed some iconic characters, and now he appears to be doing some dream casting of his own after giving Donald Trump the wild nickname of "the second George Washington." According to Variety, Stallone recently introduced Trump at the America First Policy Institute gala, where he drew comparisons between Trump and the first American president, saying, "When George Washington defended his country, he had no idea that he was going to change the world. Because without him, you could imagine what the world would look like. Guess what? We got the second George Washington. Congratulations!"
Stallone also compared Trump to Rocky Balboa, the character that brought Stallone an Oscar nomination, saying (via X), "[Rocky] was a chosen person ... Something was going to happen, this man was going to go through a metamorphosis. This man was going to change lives, just like President Trump." After overcoming plenty of tragedy of his own, Stallone clearly has a soft spot for epic character arcs. He lauded Trump, stating, "We are in the presence of a really mythical character. I love mythology, and this individual does not exist on this planet. Nobody in the world could've pulled off what he pulled off. So I'm in awe." In the comments underneath the video on X, people were divided, with naysayers saying, "Done with Stallone" and "Bye Sly," while Trump enthusiasts celebrated the Rambo-actor's endorsement, commenting, "Let's go Sly!"
Stallone has history with politics and Trump
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In an interview with Variety, Stallone talked about his own political ambitions, mentioning that he thought about following fellow action hero and friend Arnold Schwarzenegger into the political arena after he became the governor of California. But he says he quickly came to his senses and put it aside. After filming his 2006 return to the character of Rocky in "Rocky Balboa," though, the mayor of Philadelphia told him, "I believe you could be elected." But when Stallone asked his much-younger wife, Jennifer Flavin, she reacted the same way one could imagine Adrian reacting to Rocky, saying, "Are you crazy? He's just being nice. You're not going to be elected. You don't have that insatiable need to be embraced by people."
Stallone would put aside his headlining ambitions in politics and become a supporting character, putting his weight behind John McCain in 2008 and then being coy about his support for Trump in 2016. He fell back on his storytelling instincts when speaking to Variety that year, saying, "I love Donald Trump. He's a great Dickensian character. You know what I mean? There are certain people like Arnold, Babe Ruth, that are bigger than life. But I don't know how that translates to running the world." Now with Stallone firmly part of the MAGA extended universe, we wonder if he would ever consider putting on the blonde wig to see if he could go the distance in a movie about Trump.