This Sunday was May 4th. A day well-known to Star Wars fans, who celebrate May the Fourth every year as a moment of international unity. On this occasion, everyone makes their own galactic gesture. Lego announced a series of new sets, an official gathering was held in Tokyo, and the future of the saga in cinema was revealed in more detail. For its part, the White House shared an unexpected image on its social networks: Donald Trump, displaying the muscles of a superhero, poses as a Jedi, red lightsaber in hand, surrounded by American flags and two eagles, the national emblem. The image, generated by AI, is part of a mass-market communication strategy, to play on the codes of a cult license while attempting to improve (a little) the image of the American president. Not sure that's enough.
Trump chooses the dark side
The message accompanying the politician's post intended to wish a happy International Day of the Force, including to the "crazy radical leftists who are fighting so hard to bring Sith Lords, assassins, drug lords, dangerous prisoners, and well-known members of the MS-13 gang back to our galaxy." The White House even went so far as to compare its political opponents to the franchise's big bads, saying, "You are not the Rebellion, you are the Empire."
Except. If the intention was to present Trump as a Jedi-like defender of the Republic, the choice of the red lightsaber did not go unnoticed by Star Wars fans. In the universe created by George Lucas, red is traditionally the color of the Sith, the iconic antagonists, synonymous with power, ambition, and the dark side. The Jedi, on the other hand, tend to wield blue or green sabers, symbols of wisdom and justice. If red is also the color of the Republican Party, it is perhaps no coincidence.
A deliberate communication strategy
This is not the first time that the White House under Trump has used AI to hijack the presidential image: the day before, another image showed the president dressed as the pope, a few weeks after the death of the sovereign pontiff Francis. Publications in questionable taste, but which have the merit of occupying media space. The image quickly accumulated more than 135,000 likes and 25,000 reactions on X.
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