Apart from explosive choreography, revolutionary CGI and corny dialogue, it seems that “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” was actually prescient of the current state of the U.S. government. With the climactic execution of Order 66, the Republic that we had come to love over the course of three movies and a 7-season TV show met a fiery end, a sinister empire taking its place. And while Donald Trump is not a Sith lord as far as I know, many of his actions as president have been eerily similar to that of Darth Sidious. Leading up to election day on November 5, many stated that a second Trump presidency could spell the death of democracy within the United States, and although such an intense supposition isn’t likely to actually happen, the parallels that I have noticed between Trump and the Dark Lord of the Empire as a Star Wars fan have made me rather uneasy.
One of the first similarities you might notice is that both politicians were the victims of assassination attempts. Palpatine was saved from Mace Windu’s final blow by Anakin’s interjection, and Trump was saved by the slight turn of his head to avoid being fatally shot. Both attempts altered the politicians in some way, with a wrinkled Sidious claiming “the attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed,” and an exceptionally pensive Trump claiming “I’m not supposed to be here tonight. Not supposed to be here.” This phenomenon is seen more clearly when comparing their appearances before and after the assassination attempts, with Sidious’ skin deforming and Trump’s White House portrait seeming dark and almost disturbed in comparison to his 2016 one.
Moving from similarities in their biographies to similarities in their actions, both politicians worked to persecute political opponents in some way. Shortly after the attempt on his life, Sidious issued the sinister Order 66 to all clones in the Republic, ordering them to terminate all “traitorous” Jedi, effectively eliminating the only politically opposed order that would contest his rule as Emperor. Now what if I told you that Trump’s administration functionally did the same? Just replace Jedi with immigrants and clone troopers with ICE agents, and you get Earth’s very own Order 66: mass deportations. Trump also replicated Order 66 in principle, specifically by threatening to prosecute over 100 “radical left lunatic” political opponents in the weeks leading up to election day. The two leaders essentially worked to start their administrations with their image of a ‘clean slate.’
And lastly, we can see similarities in how Trump and Sidious’ administration has affected the principles of the nations they lead. Unlike the Galactic Republic, the Galactic Empire of the Original Star Wars Trilogy focused on expansionism, annexing planets from the core systems all the way to the depths of the outer rim. As for the Trump administration — after coming into office with crowd-pleasing promises of lower costs of living, job expansions for the middle class, and a time of peace — some of his very first efforts as President were anything but peaceful or stabilizing. He has pushed similarly for the expansion of the United States. Extensive coercion to yield Greenland resulted in soured relations between the US and the Baltic countries. Comical suggestions of Canada becoming the 51st state turned into not-so-comical tariffs and economic pressure placed against the closest historical ally of the United States. The Gulf of Mexico turned into the Gulf of America to display American dominance. And now Trump has his eyes on Gaza, aiming to transform the devastated region into a “Riviera of the Middle East” with an AI generated video envisioning ‘Trump Gaza’ that looks like something straight out of a supervillain movie.
Okay, this one’s insane: with the help of his master, Darth Plagueis, Palpatine used the force to create Anakin Skywalker, the chosen one who would bring balance to the force. Trump also — oh, wait. Okay, nevermind, Trump did not perform a ritual with the force (at least I’ve never heard of him doing so), but it’s still pretty clear that the parallels between a dictator movie villain and our President are concerning, especially with what the rise to power of Palpatine meant for the Republic. Imperialism remains a deep scar in the world, where the effects of colonial and expansionist powers — including the United States — are still felt tremendously by third and second world countries. When an administration comes in guns blazing, trying to expand on territory at the expense of our delicately formed relations, it reverses decades of political reform that worked to ameliorate the effects of imperialism and bridge the gap between the colonizers and the colonized. When an administration issues directly unconstitutional orders and claims that they’re valid with a straight face, it questions how important the constitution really is. When all of this is not shunned but lauded by half the country at enormous rallies with celebrities screaming while ripping their shirts off, I can’t help but be reminded of Padme Amidala’s quote: “So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause.”
