White House Star Wars Day Post Sparks Sith vs. Jedi Debate

A White House social media post intended to celebrate Star Wars Day quickly ignited backlash from fans of the galaxy far, far away — and not just for its tone.

The post featured an AI-generated image of President Trump, depicted with exaggerated muscles, flanked by bald eagles and wielding a red lightsaber. “Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics... You're not the Rebellion — you're the Empire,” the caption read.

Star Wars fans were quick to note that red lightsabers are canonically wielded by the villains — Darth Vader, Darth Maul, and Kylo Ren — while Jedi heroes like Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi carried blue or green blades.

The clash spilled into the comments, with some defending the red saber as a nod to the Republican color, while others claimed the saber was actually orange. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense added to the confusion, posting a different image showing Trump with a green saber alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s blue one.

This was the second AI-generated image of Trump shared by the White House in recent days. On Friday, an image of Trump in papal robes — following his quip about becoming pope — drew similar scrutiny.

While some dismissed the lightsaber debate as trivial, others saw it as symbolic of a larger shift in U.S. government communications, where memes and AI art now intersect with policy messaging in increasingly provocative ways.

May the discourse be with us.