Trump trolls 'Radical Left Lunatics' with 'Star Wars' pic, pitches plan to save 'DYING' Hollywood

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One day after the White House shared an AI-generated photo depicting Donald Trump as the next Pope, the social media accounts for the president posted a photo of the U.S. leader as a Jedi knight saving America from the “Radical Left.”

“Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy,” the White House’s accounts on Instagram, X and Facebook posted. “You’re not the Rebellion—you’re the Empire. May the 4th be with you.”

The image showed a pumped-up Trump in a flowing Jedi robe and brandishing a red lightsaber, while standing in front of the American flag and surrounded by a pair of bald eagles.

But fans were quick to point out how the image backfired in its messaging as the Trump administration tried to pitch itself as the saviours of the Galaxy.

Although the message categorized the president’s political enemies as “Sith Lords” — who are the main villains of Star Wars universe — it was Trump who was wielding a red lightsaber, which is used by Darth Vader and other antagonists who have turned to the dark side of the force. 

“The Jedi have blue and green lightsabers except for Mace Windu who has purple because Samuel L Jackson wanted one, and the Sith have red lightsabers. So the White House is making Trump look a Sith because of the red lightsaber which are the bad guys,” one fan posted in a lengthy explanation on X. 

“Imagine watching Star Wars your whole life and still thinking the guy with the red lightsaber is the good guy,” a second commented on Instagram, with another writing on X, “Says a lot that the AI knew to give Trump a red lightsaber…”

“Ummm, Red is the colour of the Sith…“ another X user added. A fourth asked: “Why are you holding a red lightsaber though?”

“Good guys are green and blue. Bad guys are red,” a fifth person commented quoting Star Wars creator George Lucas.

The Department of Defense’s Rapid Response account later tried to pitch Trump as one of the good guys when it shared an image in the likeness of the president holding a green lightsaber alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“100 days later … The Force is strong with this one!” they wrote in its caption.

The posts came after the White House shared an AI image portraying Trump as the Pope to its X and Instagram accounts.

After Pope Francis’ death last month, Trump joked that he could be the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

“I’d like to be pope. That would be my No. 1 choice,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.

Senator Lindsey Graham endorsed the idea on X, writing: “I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope. This would truly be a dark horse candidate, but I would ask the papal conclave and Catholic faithful to keep an open mind about this possibility! The first Pope-U.S. President combination has many upsides. Watching for white smoke…. Trump MMXXVIII!”

But his comments drew immediate criticism from church leaders representing the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

“There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,” the New York State Catholic Conference wrote in a message shared to X. “We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.”

Meanwhile, Trump has announced that he plans to impose a 100% tariff on movies that are filmed outside of the United States.

“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,“ he said on Truth Social, declaring that films shot outside the U.S. are “a National Security threat.”

“Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated,” he wrote. “It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”

Speaking to reporters, Trump claimed other countries have been “stealing the … movie-making capability of the United States.”

“I have done some very strong research over the last week, and we are making very few movies now. Hollywood is being destroyed,” he said. “Now you have a grossly incompetent governor that allowed that to happen, so I am not just blaming other nations, but other nations, a lot of them, have stolen our movie industry. If they are not willing to make a movie inside the United States, and we should have a tariff on movies that come in. And not only that, governments are actually giving big money. They are supporting them financially. So that is sort of a threat to our country in a sense.”

Earlier this year, Trump charged Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone with devising a plan to bring business back to Hollywood.

Trump’s tariff threat should cause some worry in Canada. The film and TV industry is big business across the country, particularly in Ontario where major Hollywood studios and streamers helped lift business in the province to the tune of $3.15 billion in 2022 and employs more than 35,000 people.

Amazon (The Boys, Reacher), Paramount (Star Trek: Discovery) and Netflix (The Umbrella Academy) utilize studios in Toronto and Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro shoots his feature films in the city.

Big-budget movies like the upcoming Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, Jurassic World: Rebirth and the next Avengers film, for example, are also shot outside America.

mdaniell@postmedia.com