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Decades after Natalie Portman’s Padmé Amidala spoke the words, “So this is how liberty dies,” in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Americans can finally understand the horror of watching a room full of sycophants applaud its death. Even as we watch the apparent demise of liberties we hold dear, somehow everyday folks are still finding ways to put a humorous spin on the rise of the oligarchy in the U.S.
TikToker @nicotinedoll is currently running one of the best recurring series online. Leaning on Trumpian rhetoric while using key moments from the Star Wars series, the creator is brilliantly lampooning the absurd moves coming from Donald Trump’s second administration. Upping the hilarious ante, he’s mastered the intonations of Trump’s latest talking head, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, perfectly.
“For the last time, I have never heard of Order 66,” he says, channeling his inner Trumpian mouthpiece. “No one has ever heard of Order 66. The Emperor in particular has never heard of Order 66.” It’s a dark kind of humor, one that pulls from infuriating real-life talking points from Trump’s camp.
Trump recently used this tactic after calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “a dictator.” Never one to roll back a claim, Trump later responded with incredulity when reporters asked him to explain himself, “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that,” he commented flippantly before moving on, never fully redacting his incorrect assertion that Zelenskyy started the conflict.
The creator lampoons Leavitt’s penchant for downplaying or over-exaggerating Trump’s rhetoric and claims. “The disdain, the impatience, it’s all perfectly accurate and therefore haunting,” one commenter perfectly summarized. The video goes on to claim that the destruction of Alderaan was “a failure of infrastructure and plumbing.”
Perhaps the best part of the 3-part series so far is the consistent comparison of Lord Vader to Elon Musk. “Lord Vader is a longtime confidant and friend and an invaluable member of this Empire,” the TikToker says, channeling Leavitt beautifully. “For the last time, Lord Vader has no administrative power in this Empire, and he was on the Death—” he fumbles before plowing onward, “—the Imperial Station, because he’s a brilliant engineer.”
The talking points mirror the Trump administration’s insistence that Elon Musk isn’t a government employee, which has caused no small amount of confusion. For weeks, the administration has flip-flopped on what exactly Musk’s position in the government is. It seems weekly that Trump’s team labels him head of the organization only to flip and say he isn’t. As of now, the story is that Amy Gleason, a former health care exec on vacation in Mexico, is in charge — though why it took the administration so long to reveal her has raised some serious eyebrows.
The short videos by themselves are good for a laugh, but it’s the comments that come in clutch for this one. Laced with some truly spectacular takeaways like “Pumpkin Spice Palpatine,” or “I thought it was Order 66, not Project 2025,” or my personal favorite, “The AP gets banned from the press room for saying Han shot first,” they make the absurd commentary shine. Now if only we could shut down the insane anxiety this administration is built on and just have a laugh.