Far-right news host Steve Gruber, a popular personality on the conservative network Real America's Voice, made a rather outlandish claim about Democrats' prospective performance in this year's midterm elections.
Gruber suggested the box office of Top Gun: Maverick—the follow-up to the classic Top Gun starring Tom Cruise reprising one of the more famous roles of his career—could ring the death knell for Democrats looking to retain congressional control.
He characterized the film's success as a sign "American pride" is alive and well, a sign he suggested bodes well for Republicans later this year.
You can hear what Gruber said in the video below:
Gruber said:
"And this is by far the biggest warning of all for mealy mouted politicians and feckless weasels of all stripes everywhere, RINOS [Republicans in Name Only], Democrats, [and] socialists."
"But in November it's American pride that will be reawakening and it will be Americans reawakening and taking back our country and it is American pride that hs driven the very rare 'A+' rating for the brand new Top Gun film."
Top Gun: Maverick's success has been attributed, at least by conservatives, to its purported patriotic themes.
Earlier this week, Fox News contributor Clay Travis declared the movie's strong box office numbers indicate "the vast majority of Americans are absolutely desperate to celebrate our country."
Similarly, conservative political commentator Monica Crowley claimed that the film "catapults us back to the mid-1980s, when we had a real President, men were men, and there was unabashed pride in America."
Crowley said the film offers a combination of "nostalgia" and "hope."
But these assertions did not sit well with others who mocked Gruber considerably.
The notion that masculinity is being attacked–namely by the left wing–is a popular one among Republicans like Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who last year accused "the Left" of hurting "the future of the American man" and went on to claim that the "deconstruction of America begins with and depends on the deconstruction of American men."
The suggestion that masculinity is "in crisis" has also persisted among the right as its most prominent voices continue to assert that the nation's framers would be "horrified" by progressive politics, particularly more inclusive rights for women, minorities, LGBTQ+ people, and other marginalized groups.
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