With the latest installment of the main Star Warsfranchise set for release next month, along with the baby Yoda memes currently flooding the internet, Star Wars is as popular as ever.
But the force wasn't with one Congressman who tried to get in on the fun.
Congressman Ben Cline (R-VA) is getting mocked for recent comments in an appearance on Fox News. The freshman representative compared President Donald Trump and his allies to the rebel forces of Star Wars, who take arms against the corrupt Empire, personified in Cline's metaphor as House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Cline told Fox News' Sandra Smith:
"We had Star Wars—the Empire got destroyed just like the Mueller report got destroyed. The sequel is here. It's The Empire Strikes Back, or as we like to say, 'The Intelligence Committee strikes back, Adam Schiff strikes back.' We all know how the story ends. The rebels win. Ultimately the president will be exonerated and we don't anticipate any reason to go forward with these hearings."Spoiler alert:
The rebels do not win at the end of The Empire Strikes Back because the Empire, indeed, strikes back. They're forced to retreat after Han Solo gets frozen in carbonite and Luke Skywalker loses a hand right before finding out the father he never knew is his mortal enemy.
Anyway, the President gave Cline's bumbling comparison his seal of approval.
But he was pretty much the only one.
Cline sits on the House Judiciary Committee and is expected to participate in the committee's impeachment hearing this week.
For more coherent takes on the political implications of your favorite intergalactic adventures, check out The Final Frontier: International Relations and Politics through Star Trek and Star Wars here.
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