California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has responded to MAGA Republican President Donald Trump's multiple Truth Social posts promoting his decision to take military action in Los Angeles to suppress protests against the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.
Governor Newsom neither requested nor consented to Trump's use of the California National Guard for his attacks on L.A. protesters, nor to his deployment of United States Marines to the area.
The California Governor’s Press Office shared a series of TikTok videos—created by @ethanthebrown—with voiceovers that sound like Star Wars’ Emperor Palpatine and General Grievous reading social media posts by Trump (Palpatine) and his White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller (Grievous).
Although the lack of misspelling, inappropriate capitalization, and coherence led many to speculate that all three posts were actually created and posted by Miller.
You can watch the videos here:
The first features an AI-generated voiceover by Emperor Palpatine reading a Trump Truth Social post that claims:
"A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals. Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations — But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve."
"I am directing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, in coordination with all other relevant Departments and Agencies, to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots."
"Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
The second features another Trump post that reads nothing like his usual language skills, again read by the faux Palpatine.
Trump's Truth Social account had posted:
"We made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California. If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated. The very incompetent 'Governor', Gavin Newscum, and 'Mayor', Karen Bass, should be saying, 'THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR'."
Many wondered, would this be said with tears in their eyes?
The post continued:
"Instead, they choose to lie to the People of California and America by saying that we weren’t needed, and that these are 'peaceful protests'. Just one look at the pictures and videos of the Violence and Destruction tells you all you have to know. We will always do what is needed to keep our Citizens SAFE, so we can, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
The third video features an AI-generated voiceover by cyborg villain General Grievous reading a Stephen Miller Truth Social post.
Miller posted:
"The insurrectionist mobs will be defeated. Our love for America is stronger than their hatred. Sovereignty will be restored. The illegals will be returned. Our way of life will prevail."
The posts mock Trump on more than one level.
The overly dramatic social media posts being compared to speeches by Star Wars villains is obvious. More subtle is mocking Trump's own love of posting AI-generated propaganda videos.
People appreciated the comparison.
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Although on Reddit in the Politics subReddit, people debated if Palpatine was the best representation of Trump.
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Some thought Star Wars was the wrong franchise, and instead looked to Star Trek for Trump's doppelganger.
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The trolling of Trump takes place as Governor Newsom also takes him to court.
He captioned a screenshot of the court filing along with a repost of a previous X post:
" Donald Trump is behaving like a tyrant, not a President."
"By turning the military against American citizens, he is threatening the very core of our democracy."
"I’m asking the court to immediately block these unlawful actions."
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