President Donald Trump unveiled a new Space Force uniform concept on Truth Social Sunday, drawing immediate online comparisons to fictional fascist regimes.
The 80-year-old president shared a graphic showing a model in the proposed “next generation” design, which the accompanying text said was inspired by “the discipline and functionality of the Starship trooper uniform.” The graphic added: “Modernized for the guardians of the space domain.”
The proposed uniform features black or dark gray trousers, tucked-in black boots, and a collar, sleeve patch, belt buckle, and service cap bearing the U.S. Space Force delta logo. Ranks would appear as stars. The color palette includes space gray, midnight black, silver gray, and satin black.
The “Starship Troopers” reference points to Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 sci-fi action film, which depicts a futuristic militarized society battling giant alien insects. Verhoeven, who grew up in Nazi-occupied Holland during World War II, deliberately employed fascist and Nazi-style imagery as satire in the movie.
Social media users quickly seized on the visual parallels. “LITERALLY THE EMPIRE FROM STAR WARS!” one X user wrote. Another posted: “This literally looks like a Star Trek inspired nazi uniform.” A third user fired back: “That’s a bad look! Resembles the officer’s uniform of the evil Empire in Star Wars.”
The comparisons continued to stack up. “Those of us who saw Star Wars and even Spaceballs know that this uniform is from the bad guys,” one person shared. Another added: “Designing the Space Force uniforms to look like the evil bad guys from Star Wars, who are led by an elderly, power hungry tyrant, who lose, repeatedly, is a bit too on brand, no?”
One X user took the simulation angle, writing: “The new Space Force uniforms look like they told an AI to make a uniform for pilots and soldiers that look like they work for the Empire, Emperor Palpatine, and Darth Vader. We are in a simulation.”
No official announcement has been made regarding a release date for the uniforms, and it remains unclear whether the designs represent an actual planned rollout or were simply created as a graphic for Trump’s social media post.
The uniform reveal came the same week Trump sparked separate online chatter about his appearance. While departing for New Jersey last week, the president appeared to display a darker hair color, prompting speculation that he had abandoned his signature blond look for brunette. Trump has not commented on the apparent change, though social media users quickly weighed in with posts including “Trump is now a brunette!”