After the bulldozer inchief and the redecorator in chief, the designer in chief? So it seems, judging from a Truth Social post from President Trump over the weekend in which he appeared to extend his desire to make over whatever catches his eye to military uniforms. Specifically, the service dress uniforms of the Space Force.
Amid a series of posts showing New Mexico renamed “New America” and George Washington visiting Trump in the Oval Office, the president included what appeared to be an A.I.-generated version of the “next generation” Space Force outfits for his lunar generals. One in “space gray” and “midnight black” featured a Prussian collar, a belted tunic jacket and shiny knee-high black boots.
Sound familiar?
It would be easy to dismiss the post as simply one late-night boondoggle among many. But it is also telling.
According to the post, the style was “inspired by the dignity and functionality of the Starship Trooper uniform.” Given that “Starship Troopers,” the 1997 Paul Verhoeven movie that was inspired by Robert Heinlein’s 1959 book, starts with the phrase “After the failure of democracy” and was meant as a sendup of totalitarianism, this was a provocative model to choose. Think sci-fi Hitler by way of Hollywood, and you will get the idea.
Or think of it as a case of life imitating cartoon art imitating life. Or simply another example of the way the president is merging the pageantry of dictators and the big screen’s schlocky past into a communications chimera that, in its lack of subtlety, may seem like a joke but taps into the totems of mass culture with viral intent. By cloaking the horrors of the past in the costumes of escapism, it normalizes them.
Even if the proposed uniform was more fantasy than realism, many people online did not miss the connection between the look and its historical antecedents in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy and Spain. Especially when such comparisons were already drawn between the former Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino’s preferred overcoat and the wardrobes of classic strongmen.
Besides, the look was entirely in line with the Trump aesthetic.
That’s not just because, as Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan reported in their book, “Regime Change,” Trump believes he is more powerful than Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Stalin and Hitler, suggesting that those regimes, with their distinctive aesthetics, are his measuring stick.
Rather, just as gold and marble, the fairy-tale signifiers of palaces and royalty, seem to represent the most desirable physical environment for the president, and superheroes his favored avatars, so, too, the military uniforms that have become communal shorthand for evil armies onscreen seem to be his preferred choice for communicating power and intimidation.
After all, the Space Force outfits resemble not only the uniforms of “Starship Troopers,” but those of the Galactic Empire officers in “Star Wars.”
And they may signal the president’s intent to redesign the look of a lot more than just the White House, even if the proposed uniforms are never made. Emails to the Space Force were not answered, and the Space Force itself introduced new ceremonial dress uniforms during the IndyCar race in Washington last month with a much more traditional look, including sky blue braid, white collars and bright silver buttons. Still, members of the Trump administration prove eager to make the president’s wishes come true — whether that is putting his profile on new gold coins or on special 250th anniversary passports.
Trump has already demonstrated his desire to style the members of his administration, handing out his preferred Florsheim shoes to a number of cabinet members because he didn’t approve of their footwear choices. In that context, the proposed Space Force designs may simply be another … well, lockstep in that direction.
The post Trump’s Latest Makeover Target? Space Force Uniforms. appeared first on New York Times.
