The White House seems to be continuing its affinity for artificial intelligence-generated imagery depicting Donald Trump in bizarre and deifying themes, from a falsified photo of him as a would-be pope to now a hunk-ified Sith lord from Star Wars (none of these words are in the Bible).
“Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy. You’re not the Rebellion—you’re the Empire. May the 4th be with you,” the official account captioned the photo — featuring Trump wielding a lightsaber in front of dual eagles and American flags — on X.
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Naturally, the photo generated a flurry of mixed responses, with some commenters pointing to the irony of the usage of a red lightsaber, a weapon in the original Star Wars franchise that signifies a villain is wielding it. Fans of the George Lucas-created universe also noted that he based the fascist and dictatorial Sith Empire on Nazi Germany — both its aesthetics and ideology.
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Others in the comments maintained that the saber was actually orange (wielding color wheels to make their points), and more modern Star Wars entries see the benevolent Jedi using such sabers. Still others pointed to red being a prominent GOP color, while some urged outspoken Trump hater Mark Hamill (the one and only Luke Skywalker) to comment on the matter.
Since the image is posted to the official White House social media account, it will likely be archived as an official record of the Trump 2.0 administration, as was done with Joe Biden’s platforms. Many online chagrined the “embarrassing” and “cringe” online behavior by the professional WH account, exacerbated by widely decried posts that adopted mocking tones regarding the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia and treatment of prisoners at the maximum security prison CECOT in El Salvador.
AI usage is a hallmark of the Trump 2.0 era, with the White House previously under fire for its Studio Ghibli-stylized image of an ICE officer detaining an immigrant in tears — something many theorized would deeply upset venerated co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, who is firmly anti-AI, having described the technology as “grotesque” and “an insult to life itself.” With the proliferation of gen-AI, ethical concerns toward its application have re-entered the spotlight, including issues of water and energy consumption/waste and artist alarm over creative autonomy and exploitation.