The Donald Trump War Room Twitter account, which is managed by the Team Trump 2020 election campaign, has posted a video taking aim at the Democratic Party, with the US President portrayed in it as Avengers villain Thanos.
In a modified clip from Avengers: Endgame, Trump’s face is superimposed onto the body of Thanos as he declares:
“I am inevitable”.
The clip then cuts to a recent press conference given by House speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and other leading Democrats, showing them all subsequently turn to dust, much like in the Avengers films after “the Thanos snap”.
“House Democrats can push their sham impeachment all they want… President Trump’s re-election is inevitable,” the tweet from the campaign team reads.
The video provoked a puzzled response from netizens, who have gone online to point out Thanos’ evil nature, questioning the decision of the team to portray the president in the role of a villain.
Others emphasised that the Endgame clip used by the campaign team actually ends up with Thanos failing to achieve his goal of destroying the world after being tricked by Iron Man, leading to his eventual defeat by the Avengers superheroes.
Others posted sarcastic comments referring to some unexpected “honesty” from the Trump team.
Others noted that in the movie, Thanos doesn’t succeed in making anyone disappear for good, either.
Others wondered what those behind the Marvel franchise would think about this use of their clip.
A response from Marvel comic writer Jim Starlin was not long in coming, as the Hollywood Reporter quoted the Thanos creator as expressed his strong disapproval of this use of Thanos.
“After my initial feeling of being violated, seeing that pompous fool using my creation to stroke his infantile ego, it finally struck me that the leader of my country and the free world actually enjoys comparing himself to a mass murderer,” Starlin said.
Starlin continued:
“How sick is that? These are sad and strange times we are going through. Fortunately all things, even national nightmares, eventually come to an end.”
The video was released by one of the US President team’s Twitter accounts after House Democrats unveiled two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress on Tuesday.
The House Judiciary Committee is poised to vote on the articles within the week, and the full House is expected to hold a vote before Christmas. setting up a likely trial in the Republican-led Senate early next year, shortly before the presidential election kicks off with primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire.
After the announcement of the articles of impeachment, Trump went on Twitter to accuse the Democrats of lying, posting:
“WITCH HUNT!”
The impeachment inquiry against Trump was launched by House Democrats in September after a whistleblower complaint alleged that the US President abused his power and pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a 25 July phone call to investigate the possible corruption of his political rival, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter, who sat on the board of a local energy company, Burisma.
The White House subsequently published what it claimed to be an unredacted transcript of the phone conversation, as Trump denied any wrongdoing and dubbed the probe another "witch hunt" against him.