Trump Backs Hollywood Tax Breaks After Jon Voight Push; Somehow, Democrats Are Cheering Him On

President Trump is publicly endorsing the idea of a federal film and television tax incentive, signaling a potentially historic initiative — and it actually has bipartisan support! When has that ever happened this decade?

In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump argued that Hollywood is suffering from a lack of production and said industry figures, including his “special ambassador” to Hollywood, Jon Voight, had urged him to support federal incentives. “Hollywood is a Complete and Total Disaster!” Trump wrote, adding that Voight and others were proposing incentives to make the U.S. entertainment business “GREAT AGAIN, perhaps GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!”

Trump said he wants Republicans and Democrats to work together immediately on legislation that would encourage film and television production in the U.S., with federal incentives potentially stacked on top of existing state tax credits.

If this seriously comes to pass, then it would be such a game changer for the entire industry. The U.S. would finally be able to compete with production incentives offered by countries such as Canada, the U.K. and Australia.

“What we watch on the Silver Screen should be made in what was once the Movie and Motion Picture Capital of the World,” Trump wrote. “Let’s get this done!”

We should thank — of all people — Jon Voight, who recently showcased his “boner” in Megalopolis and, more than a year after President Trump named him his “special ambassador” to Hollywood, has somehow helped calm the skepticism by convincing Trump to move forward with Hollywood tax breaks.

The MPA welcomed Trump’s announcement, with CEO Charlie Rivkin calling a federal incentive “a landmark step toward bringing more production to local communities in all 50 states” and saying the group looks forward to helping enact “a meaningful and effective national incentive into law.”

Trump and Voight’s proposal is — quite surprisingly — being met with open arms by Democratic lawmakers who have been clamoring for this tax-credit legislation to get done for many years. Directors Guild of America executive director Russell Hollander said the union looks forward to working with the administration and Congress on a bipartisan bill promoting domestic production and jobs. Sen. Adam Schiff, a Democrat and longtime advocate of the measure, said, “I am in strong agreement with the President,” calling for Congress to “immediately take up and pass a federal film tax incentive.”

Am I dreaming this? After years of watching Hollywood production flee the country, we may finally be looking at the rarest thing in modern politics: Republicans, Democrats, Hollywood unions, studios and even Donald Trump agreeing on something.

Last year, Spike Lee spoke to THR about the dire state of Hollywood:

I have a lot of friends here in L.A. that work within the industry, and no one’s working. In New York too. Might be a couple TV shows. People are hurting.

That’s what it comes down to. Production has largely left not only California, but the U.S. as well. Below-the-line workers are in crisis. Productions are increasingly moving overseas to places like the U.K., Canada and Hungary, where lucrative incentives have made them more competitive, while Hollywood unions have long advocated for a federal tax break — which might now finally be coming.