Above left is an email I received today from something called Proud Patriots, a company that describes itself as ” a place where the love for America burns brighter than a sky full of Fourth of July fireworks.” It is an independent online retailer unaffiliated with the Trump campaign — according to its website — but its definition of patriotism is certainly wrapped up with the fetishization of Trump as savior.
Take the product being hawked here — a bobble head doll that merges Trump and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator character, in militaristic leathers and dark sun glasses. It’s meant as a play on two Schwarzenegger catch phrases: “I’ll be back,” i.e., as in I’ll be back in the White House, and “haste la vista, baby,” which is recast as “haste la vista, Biden.”
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