Donald Trump often sees himself very differently than the public sees him.
But that script slipped when his own team tried to push the image a little further—this time casting Trump as something closer to a larger-than-life movie character than a real-world leader. The rollout didn’t land the way it was supposed to.
Instead of reinforcing the persona, it exposed how forced it all felt, turning what was meant to look powerful into something people couldn’t take seriously.
May 4 has become an unofficial global holiday known as Star Wars Day. Fans celebrate the Disney-owned media franchise with the “may the fourth be with you” salutation, a play on the famous “may the Force be with you” catchphrase from the sci-fi motion picture.
The White House account on X leaned into the celebration by sharing an image of Trump, 79, depicted as the title character from “The Mandalorian” television series.
With the popular Din Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) at his side in a pouch, a helmet-less president is seen holding an American flag.
Trump’s face even looked different, as he sported a skinny, pointed nose and muscular cheeks. In the show, being seen bare-faced is normally a serious violation of the Mandalorian code.
Apparently, his staffers did not pay close enough attention to Old Glory in the picture, but eagle-eyed viewers quickly noticed a major error on the flag.
Instead of the 13 stripes representing the original 13 American colonies that declared independence, “The Mandalorian” illustration was missing two stripes.
“The official White House account posted an AI slop American flag with only 11 stripes,” one Threads poster pointed out about the artificial visual.
Another replied, “These are 13-year-old men running this account… It’s really sad and disturbing, but that’s these boys’ mission. This is what he has, nothing but facades.”
A third wondered, “Who is in charge of these posts? 3rd graders?
As far as the American flag having the wrong number of stripes, one commenter aimed at Trump supporters with a reply that read, “Meanwhile, there are MAGA reading this, scratching their heads, and wondering, ‘Is that not right?’”
“Pathetic measures when the reality is so much more different,” declared a Trump critic, referring to the many issues, such as affordability concerns and the ongoing Iran War, that have sunk the president’s approval ratings.
This was not the first time the current White House embraced May 4 to illustrate Trump as a “Star Wars” leading man.
In 2025, an X post presented him as a muscular Jedi master, except the red lightsaber in his hand signified that the businessman-turned-politician was an evil Sith lord, not a virtuous Jedi knight.
Many “Star Wars” devotees are fed up with Trump using the George Lucas-created pop culture phenomenon as a way to showcase a sense of bravado and masculinity.
Some annoyed enthusiasts of the space opera saga are even calling on Disney to demand the AI image be pulled from the internet.
“Can they use Baby Yoda like that??” a Threads poster asked in reaction to the White House’s Trump-Mandalorian mashup featuring the green-skinned infant who becomes the adoptive child of the titular protagonist.
An even more outraged fan posted, “[Disney], you should make them take this down immediately. These are your properties, and ‘Star Wars’ stands for everything against what is happening here.”
Despite the widespread backlash, Trump will likely continue to use artificial intelligence to hype himself up and promote his self-centered agenda. This year’s Easter season saw the president post a controversial AI-generated image of himself stylized as Jesus.
“I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor. And had to do with the Red Cross, as a Red Cross worker, which we support,” Trump insisted after even other Republicans, like former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, denounced his Jesus visualization.
The administration has also botched other social media efforts to produce a patriotic spin on behalf of Trump. Back in February, the White House’s X account honored the U.S. men’s hockey players at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy with a goal-scoring clip on the platform.
However, that tweet highlighting left winger Brady Tkachuk included a noticeable gaffe. The caption read, “QUEUE FREE BIRD.” Other people on X quickly noted that the correct term for the sentence should have been “cue,” not “queue.”
