Conservative CNN panelist Scott Jennings had people raising their eyebrows after he tried to defend the infamous Star Wars villain Emperor Palpatine by calling the Jedi "unelected hippies and violent protesters" during a weird rant.
As depicted in the Star Wars saga, Emperor Palpatine was a male human who served as both a Dark Lord of the Sith and the Emperor of the Galactic Empire.
Originally a senator from Naboo, he secretly operated under two personas—Palpatine and Darth Sidious—manipulating events from behind the scenes. By maintaining this dual identity, he advanced his political ambitions while covertly orchestrating the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire.
And according to Jennings, that's defensible because Palpatine, who was actually very much the villain in these stories, was contributing to a global reckoning over "the deep state," a widely discredited conspiracy theory that claims the existence of a clandestine group of actors who exercise power from within high levels of government, finance, and industry in the United States.
He said:
"I think it's time we take a new look at the reign of Emperor Palpatine. I think he's getting a bad rap. He took on an entrenched deep state in the Jedi council. He tried to bring order, he wanted free and fair and reciprocal trade around the galaxy."
"He protected law and order, which I think was warranted given their rebellious activities. He defended the Empire against unelected hippies and violent protesters. I'm just saying it's been a while, we may need to take a look at this again and say, 'Was he right?'"
You can hear what Jennings said in the video below.
His fellow panelists laughed at him—as did social media users.
This is the second time in the last couple of weeks that Republicans have shown they just don't seem to get the message and themes of Star Wars.
The White House was widely mocked earlier this month after it shared an AI image of Trump as a supposed Jedi for "Star Wars Day" to attack Democrats, only to show an utter lack of Star Wars knowledge in the process.
A meme shared by President Donald Trump's social media team depicts the president styled as what appears to be a heavily muscled, patriotic Jedi—complete with a robe, American flag backdrop, and bald eagles.
However, the image includes a glaring contradiction: Trump is wielding a red lightsaber, traditionally associated with the Sith and the Dark Side in the Star Wars universe.
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