Ron DeSantis claims ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ succeeded because it lacked an ‘agenda’

More timely swag for 'Top Gov' Ron DeSantis.

Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to extol last year’s blockbuster sequel “Top Gun: Maverick.”

During a Sunday campaign stop in Eldridge, Iowa, DeSantis again lionized the Tom Cruise movie in discussing what he believes the entertainment industry should and shouldn’t be doing.

“The reason why it got a billion dollars in revenue or close to that, it was one of the top 10 movies of all time,” DeSantis said, was “because it didn’t have an agenda.”

“It was just ‘OK, you know, U.S. military, you know, is patriotic, pro-military, pro-America, good storyline’ and it did phenomenal,” DeSantis recounted.

The Governor’s callback to last year’s summer seat filler will remind some of how intently his political operation co-branded around the flick. For example, “Fox and Friends” viewers were the first to hear that DeSantis’ “Top Gov” ad from August was timed to capitalize on the streaming debut.

“So we came out with the Top Gov when the movie came out,” DeSantis explained. “The merchandise did really well. Now, because it’s coming out on streaming today, we figured there would be more interest in it. So I figured, ‘How could we do it?’”

The ad showed DeSantis explaining the art of “dogfighting” with “the corporate media,” with spliced-in footage of DeSantis belittling TV reporters along with shots of the Governor in a flight suit. While fighter pilots may quibble with comparisons of press conference duty to flying jets during combat, the former Navy vet clearly saw the activities as analogous.

He also suggested the current military could learn from the movie on an August 2022 episode of the Glenn Beck Show, as he blasted the Department of Defense for not living up to the standards of the film,

“I take my son to watch ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ right? And you’re proud of seeing the pilots and all that. Then in real life, what’s the Navy doing? They’re focusing on pronouns and all these other things, this woke garbage, while China’s laughing at us,” DeSantis lamented.

DeSantis also invoked the movie in explaining why his political operation doesn’t conduct polls.

“Too many politicians, they get paralyzed by these polls,” he continued. “A leader needs to understand where ‘true north’ is. You know, have you guys seen ‘Top Gun: Maverick‘? The Navy, like, we always know where true north is. … These ships are out there, you’ve got these planes landing on the carrier, the jets,” DeSantis said, calling their efforts “really impressive” in remarks to the Boys State Program last year.