California Governor Gavin Newsom ramped up his confrontation with President Donald Trump on Tuesday, releasing AI-generated videos featuring Emperor Palpatine’s voice from Star Wars reading Trump’s social media posts about the anti-immigration riots disrupting Los Angeles.

Newsom’s office posted two TikTok videos featuring what appears to be the Star Wars villain’s distinctive voice delivering Trump’s recent tweets. One video opens with sweeping orchestral music reminiscent of John Williams’ scores, set against animated scenes of storm troopers assembling while star destroyers loom overhead. Palpatine’s iconic voice intones Trump’s words: “A once great American city, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by illegal aliens and criminals…”

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A second video draws from actual Empire Strikes Back footage showing imperial forces attacking the rebel base, while the synthetic voice warns that “Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated” without Trump’s interventions.

Although for some Star Wars fans the post may come off as amusing, Newsom’s provocative videos come amid a serious constitutional crisis between California and the federal government that began last Friday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across Los Angeles sparked days of increasingly violent protests, with demonstrators clashing with federal agents and police near detention centers and federal buildings.

Trump responded by invoking rarely-used federal authority to deploy 2,000 National Guard troops, marking the first time in about 60 years that a president has made such a decision against a governor’s wishes. By Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the deployment of an additional 700 Marines from Camp Pendleton, bringing total federal forces to nearly 5,000.

Newsom has repeatedly accused Trump of “manufacturing” the crisis and “putting fuel on this fire” through his military deployments. Speaking to MSNBC, he called the National Guard federalization “an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act.”

“This is about power. This is about ego, my way or the highway. This is a consistent pattern of practice, of recklessness. This guy has abandoned the core principles of this great democracy,” Newsom said. “He’s on a cultural binge. He’s rewriting history, censoring historical facts, and this is part of that ongoing play that is unfolding in front of our eyes. It is a serious moment under the guise of immigration.”

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