Trump Campaign Manager Compares His Operation to Death Star, Gets Reminded How Star Wars Ends
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale sought a Star Wars reference to tout the “juggernaut” operation he set up to secure President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection on Thursday, though critics were amused by the ill-conceived analogy.
In March, The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins examined the Trump campaign’s plan to spend over $1 billion on a blitz of pro-Trump messaging across television and the internet, noting the operation has often been dubbed “the Death Star.”
Coppins visualized a “dystopian” chain of events where “coordinated bot attacks, Potemkin local-news sites, micro-targeted fearmongering, and anonymous mass texting” will flood the zone with Trumpian misinformation throughout the election.
Parscale seems to have embraced the Star Wars metaphor, for he posted this on Thursday.
For nearly three years we have been building a juggernaut campaign (Death Star). It is firing on all cylinders. Data, Digital, TV, Political, Surrogates, Coalitions, etc.
In a few days we start pressing FIRE for the first time. pic.twitter.com/aJgCNfx1m0
— Brad Parscale – Download our Trump 2020 App today! (@parscale) May 7, 2020
He later explained himself in a follow-up tweet, saying he’s “happy to use the analogy” and people can “laugh all you want, we will take the win!”
I didn’t give our campaign the name, Death Star, the media did. However, I am happy to use the analogy. The fact is, we haven’t used it yet. Laugh all you want, we will take the win!
— Brad Parscale – Download our Trump 2020 App today! (@parscale) May 7, 2020
Most of Parscale’s critics are either questioning why he is likening his campaign to the villains of the Star Wars franchise, or else, they’re reminding him that twice, the Galactic Empire constructed a Death Star, and both times it was destroyed while the Empire was overconfident in their chances of victory.
This is a terrible metaphor for a presidential campaign (in every sense of the word). But if that’s how you want to go down in history, game on! https://t.co/ARyZIFEq3H pic.twitter.com/dT8qytvnmO
— Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst) May 7, 2020
Brad is the kind of person who thought Vader was the victim in the Star Wars movies. https://t.co/qNX1prZHzj
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) May 7, 2020
I recognize the trolling value, but with both this and that earlier Thanos meme, it’s kinda weird for the Presidnt’s team to consistently identify themselves w/ popular culture villains https://t.co/FYfTCqP12o
— Michael Steel (@michael_steel) May 7, 2020
Dems as Jedis? I’ll take that. https://t.co/EWbmXxs1ne
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) May 7, 2020
One more thing: that green laser makes an entire planet explode, murdering billions of people. So, yeah, perfect GIF metaphor, Brad. https://t.co/U7lyaXF48H
— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) May 7, 2020
Someone wanna tell him? https://t.co/XGku4DwQvW
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) May 7, 2020
Watch the whole damn movie, @parscale. The empire fell because it was overconfident. https://t.co/5wRdBcRRRC pic.twitter.com/gn05S7gJ7W
— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) May 7, 2020
No Star Wars expert, but doesn’t the Death Star…get blown up? https://t.co/plf7ztTLAV
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) May 7, 2020
Got a fun story for you about what happens to the Death Star https://t.co/vaqUgzq79y
— Rob Flaherty (@Rob_Flaherty) May 7, 2020
Historical Fact: The Death Star was destroyed. https://t.co/d3zX0CvFfg
— Steve Schale ?? (@steveschale) May 7, 2020
The Death Star was an expensive failure and, despite that, the Empire built a bigger and more expensive one that also failed.
Here endeth the lesson. https://t.co/1RD4JONJqM— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) May 7, 2020
