Sylvester Stallone calls Trump 'second George Washington' and a 'mythical character'

By: Shawn
Sylvester Stallone is the latest Hollywood star to support President-elect Donald Trump, calling the 2024 election winner the "second George Washington" at an awards dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday night.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets actor Sylvester Stallone onstage at the America First Policy Institute Gala held at Mar-a-Lago on November 14, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. The annual event supports Grey Team, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing military suicide.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Stallone praised the incoming president at the America First Policy Institute Gala in Palm Beach, comparing him to the eponymous character in his Oscar-winning film Rocky and Jesus Christ, before Trump entered the stage. In openly expressing his support for Trump, the actor joined a small but increasing roster of celebrity supporters of the next president, which includes Kelsey Grammer, Drea de Mateo, and Jack Paul, among others. The bulk of Hollywood players supported his opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris, whose campaign was cut short. Her campaign used a number of celebrities as endorsers and entertainment at rallies, and she enrolled them in the vice president's ground game in key states.

"We're in the presence of a really mythical character," Stallone told the audience at Mar-a-Lago. "I enjoy mythology. And this person doesn't exist on this world. Nobody in the world could have pulled off what he did, therefore I'm amazed."

Stallone then likened Trump to one of the United States' founding fathers, drawing parallels between the intents and outcomes of the two individuals who governed the country, implying that both were critical to the world we know today. 

"When George Washington defended his country, he had no idea he was going to change the world," the 78-year-old actor explained. "Because without him, you could imagine what the world would be like." Guess what? "We have the second George Washington."

Stallone's Trump-Jesus parallel came earlier, when he referenced the first few seconds of Rocky, which begins with a shot of the Son of God, as he is known in the New Testament, and then pans over to the title character being hammered with blows in a boxing ring as he furiously fights back. 

"At that point, he was a chosen person, and that's how I started the journey — something was going to happen, this man was going to go through a metamorphosis and change lives, just like President Trump," says the star of the Paramount+ crime series Tulsa King. 

Trump soon walked on stage, and he and the action star exchanged long handshakes.

The America First Policy Institute Gala has been an annual event since 2021, when the far-right think group was created, to collect funding to promote Trump's political agenda. The nonprofit has been dubbed the president-elect's "White House in waiting" and has compiled an agenda similar to the Heritage Institute's contentious Project 2025, which proposes policy changes such as imposing tariffs on imports, lowering corporate taxes, protecting religious freedom, and reversing climate change efforts.

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