Trump's dystopian anti-woke military ad features footage of a war crime that killed innocents – We Got This Covered
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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a visit with Michigan Air National Guard troops on April 29, 2025 at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan. Trump will travel to Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan to hold a rally where he is expected to highlight his accomplishments during his first 100 days in office, including closing the border, job creation and the economy. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Trump’s dystopian anti-woke military ad features footage of a war crime that killed innocents

Feels like an advert from RoboCop.

The Trump administration marked Memorial Day by releasing an ad that reminds us that the U.S. Military is a terrifying, dystopian, remorseless killing machine. To the ominous synth sounds of Czech composer Tomas Herudek’s “Ego Hero”, the Pentagon revealed that, from now on, the Department of Defense will be focused on delivering death rather than being woke.

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The ad quotes Pete Hegseth directly, saying: “No more distractions. No more electric tanks. No more gender confusion. No more climate change worship. We are laser-focused on our mission of war fighting”, shortly followed by an excerpt from Trump himself: “Through our power and might, we will lead the world to peace. Our friends will respect us, our enemies will fear us, and the whole world will admire the unrivaled greatness of the United States military.”

To underline that point about fear, the ad shows aerial footage of a circular group of about 70 people being obliterated by a massive bomb. The footage is from Apr 2025 and is from Yemen, with Trump arguing that these are Houthi rebels plotting a terrorist attack. Taking to Truth Social to share this ghoulish video, he insisted: “Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis. They will never sink our ships again.”

As was quickly pointed out, people planning “terrorist attacks” rarely gather in large circles outside to discuss what they’re about to do. And, in fact, it was soon reported that this was actually a “social Eid visit in Hodeida governorate”, that those bombed were innocent villagers at a celebratory tribal gathering, and so this bombing was a cut-and-dried U.S. war crime.

Maybe the war crime is the point

Then again, if this is the footage being used to underline that one of the U.S. military’s most important functions is spreading fear around the world, choosing a video in which innocent civilians are blown apart from high altitude makes that point very well.

And, in any event, after facing stiff resistance, Trump capitulated to the Houthis soon after with a ceasefire deal that allows them to continue attacking ships linked to Israel, raising eyebrows by praising the group: “You can say there’s a lot of bravery there… It was amazing what they took. But we honor their commitment and their word.”

It remains to be seen exactly what Trump will do with the military. To his vague credit, he seems exceedingly skeptical about plunging the United States into yet another costly and pointless war. We’ll just have to see if Trump’s ‘Peace through Strength’, i.e., being highly aggressive, instilling fear, and supporting genocide, pays off. Either way, it’s going to be an interesting few years for the nation’s soldiers.


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David James
I'm a writer/editor who's been at the site since 2015. Love writing about video games and will crawl over broken glass to write about anything related to Hideo Kojima. But am happy to write about anything and everything, so long as it's interesting!