In the final hours leading up to the 2026 midterms, MAGA conservatives and online right-wing figures are leaning into a surprising cultural motif: framing themselves and Donald Trump-aligned candidates through Star Wars villain Anakin Skywalker. As reported by WIRED, these internet spaces have flooded with memes depicting Anakin’s descent into Darth Vader as a form of prophetic anti-progressive propaganda.
Star Wars Memes as Political Messaging
Examples of the trend include an image of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi wielding a lightsaber with a caption joking about mail-in ballots arriving overnight, and a montage tracing Anakin’s transformation into Darth Vader accompanied by commentary framing Anakin as the champion of millennials and zoomers who sympathize with him over the republic. Guillaume Verdon, an AI startup founder and effective accelerationist, suggested that the Anakin edits might influence the midterm results. Christian streamer Kangmin Lee described Anakin as a disenfranchised figure radicalized by a corrupt political order, while right-wing Substack writer Max Mersault called the posts a culturally significant anti-progressive memetic virus.
Billionaire Elon Musk shared an apparent AI-generated image of Anakin on a throne alongside Padmé Amidala, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and imperial guards, accompanied by the text, “This is what they stole from us.” According to WIRED, these posts reflect grievances regarding inflation, foreign conflict, and presidential unpopularity, while glorifying the overthrow of democracy regardless of Anakin’s actions as a child-slaughtering lackey.
Government and Tech Figures Join the Trend
The Anakin trend followed a previous craze for incel-adjacent “Malfoid” content—a Harry Potter fanfiction twist featuring a female Draco Malfoy as a romantic interest—which creators also framed as reactionary propaganda. The US Department of Education participated in the meme before updating its content with Anakin imagery. Meanwhile, Katie Miller, a podcaster and wife of top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, posted on X about spending zero unregretted seconds on Anakin posts.
While some right-wing commentators insist the Anakin posts represent a monumental zeitgeist victory that has reversed cultural damage, WIRED notes that the phenomenon remains largely confined to esoteric social media feeds. Hayden Christensen, who portrayed Anakin in the Star Wars prequels, noted in a 2023 Variety interview that the character’s journey humanized him while showing him to be a pathetic person trapped in an unwanted life.
Conservative influencers will likely continue to adopt new aspirational antiheroes regardless of how the electoral showdown plays out, maintaining their online messaging.
