Trump's attack on the film industry is a sign of xenophobic contempt | Jesse Hassenger

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

70% : (This would still place most of them far above Trump in terms of art appreciation.)
63% : Los Angeles film productions have declined in recent years so naturally, rather than creating incentives for more US shoots in the heart of the American film industry, Trump figures the best way to go about it is make it more expensive to shoot elsewhere.
50% : For Trump, other countries are not objects of cultural fascination or curiosity.
45% : Trump may be tacitly asking for a return to pandemic-style production (maybe as a pre-emptive measure for when he helps bring about another pandemic).
40% : But the consensus seems to be that Trump is referring mainly to purportedly American productions that are lured to shoot in various international locations by tax credits that allow for substantial savings on big budgets.
38% : Characteristically, this proclamation was not so bold as to make any sense whatsoever, lacking as it was any sign that Trump understands the difference between movies that are produced (at least partially) by US companies and shot in other locations, and foreign films that are produced elsewhere but released in the US (by, of course, US companies who obtain distribution rights).
36% : Citing a threat to "national security" from movies that aren't shot in the United States, Trump announced that he would be enacting a 100% tariff on movies made anywhere else.
34% : By insisting tariffs on films at least partly produced outside of the US, the president is trying to limit the important worldview of cinema Add movies to the ever-expanding list of areas where Donald Trump has no expertise or even passing knowledge, but assumes problems can be solved through tariffs and maybe a little racism, as a treat.
25% : That's why Trump's vaguely but forcefully worded announcement trades on a bit of fashionable xenophobia, too, implying that movies shot in other places - US-produced or not - carry dangerous levels of propaganda.

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