Elon Musk Posts Aspirational AI Photo of Anakin Skywalker. You Know, the Allegorical Nazi Pipeline Character

Elon Musk is blowing a right-wing dogwhistle ahead of the midterm elections by posting what appear to be AI-generated images of Star Wars antihero Anakin Skywalker sitting for a Sith family portrait. “This is what they stole from us,” Musk wrote on X, accompanying a doctored image of Anakin Skywalker with his wife Padmé Amidala and his two children, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. The faces on the children mirror those of the adult actors who played them, namely Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.This is what they stole from us https://t.co/q1GnpjF394— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2026While Musk’s post might just seem like random content from someone who doesn’t understand the plot of Star Wars, Musk is actually “Anakin-posting,” a new phenomenon that recasts Anakin Skywalker, who becomes the original franchise’s titular villain, Darth Vader, as a heroic figure rather than a tragic one. The recent trend isn’t just new headcanon or fan fiction about a fictional villain; it’s a signal to susceptible young men to vote in line with right-wing interests this election cycle.To better understand the implications of the South African technocrat posting about Anakin on the eve of the midterm elections, read on below. Who is Anakin Skywalker? In order to understand the nuances of why the right is redeeming Anakin Skywalker as its hero, you need to understand who he is, so we will start at the beginning. In the Star Wars prequel trilogy, set at least 19 years before the original series, Anakin Skywalker is a young recruit training under the Jedi Order to fight evil in the universe. The prequels trace his descent into the dark side of The Force, or guiding moral principle in the universe. He ultimately betrays the Jedi Order, tries to murder his pregnant wife, and eventually becomes the original series big bad: Darth Vader. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the third film of the prequel trilogy, focuses on how Anakin becomes disillusioned with the Jedi Or