Fanboys around the world rejoiced last night as the final trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released and tickets for the movie went on sale.
But Bill Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, a neoconservative opinion magazine, made waves of his own this morning when he tweeted that he supported the Galactic Empire in the Star Wars universe:
.@continetti @DouthatNYT Needless to say, I was rooting for the Empire from the first moment. It was a benevolent liberal empire, after all.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 20, 2015
.@adesnik @DouthatNYT No objective evidence Empire was "evil." A liberal regime w meritocracy, upward mobility. Neocon/reformicon in spirit.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 20, 2015
Although the two tweets were in response to a joke New York Times op-ed writer Ross Douthat tweeted about conservatives supporting the Empire, Mr. Kristol’s support of “the dark side” didn’t seem to be jest:
@BillKristol @adesnik @DouthatNYT Again, the people of Alderaan beg to disagree.
— Lillian Wolf 🇺🇦 (@BadWolfLil) October 20, 2015
.@BillKristol So… is blowing up planets Neocon in spirit? It seems that destroying the environment is.
— Cat what looks like a duck. (@Joseph_Palmer) October 20, 2015
https://twitter.com/HanFreakinSolo/status/656486746574602241
The conversation didn’t end on Mr. Kristol’s feed, however—so many people tweeted out opinions on the Empire debate that “Bill Kristol” was one of Twitter’s top trends Tuesday morning:
Bill Kristol is an Alderaan truther.
— Clue Heywood (@ClueHeywood) October 20, 2015
my hate-aesthetic is: bill kristol arguing there is no OBJECTIVE evidence the Galactic Empire was evil
— Zach A (@IcePotato) October 20, 2015
That's why men like Bill Kristol can watch Star Wars and be genuinely moved by the Empire's patriotism. They really believe it.
— Andy Khouri (@andykhouri) October 20, 2015
https://twitter.com/BobbyBigWheel/status/656487309580308480
Rather than engaging the haters, Mr. Kristol’s response was to link to a 2002 Weekly Standard article called “The Case for the Empire.” The Force is strong with this one.
