What to know

• With Democrats forecast to gain seats in Tuesday's midterms, MAGA-aligned accounts and tech-right figures including Elon Musk have adopted Anakin Skywalker — a fictional character who becomes a genocidal fascist dictator — as a meme representing their grievances.
• The trend follows an earlier 'Malfoid' Harry Potter fanfic craze that the US Department of Education itself promoted before updating the meme with Anakin imagery.
• WIRED frames the memes as an unselfconscious embrace of fascist iconography timed to inflation, an unpopular Middle East war, and Trump's low approval ratings heading into the election.
• Proponents on the right describe the trend as a 'monumental zeitgeist victory,' while critics online mock the posts as self-parody rather than effective persuasion.

“archetypal disenfranchised chud”

Kangmin Lee, Christian streamer · WIRED ↗

Elon Musk Tech executive, GOP megadonorKatie Miller Podcaster, wife of adviser Stephen MillerKangmin Lee Christian streamerMax Mersault Right-wing Substack writerUS Department of Education Federal agency