Donald Trump Tweets Bizarre ‘Mass Effect’ Campaign Ad
Donald Trump tweeted out a new campaign ad, claiming that the Trump campaign is “at war” with protesters – the new ad compares Trump to “Commander Shepard” of the Mass Effect series of video games.
“We’re at war. No one wants to admit it but humanity is under attack,” says Martin Sheen in a voiceover borrowed from the popular Mass Effect series of video games.
The Trump ad was originally posted to Twitter by a Trump supporter, and it’s important to note that the ad itself does not appear to be an official Trump campaign ad, but it advocates strongly for a Trump presidency, comparing the New York billionaire to “Commander Shepard,” the superheroic space captain from Electronic Arts‘ Mass Effect series.
The bizarre Trump ad goes on to feature short clips of violence at Trump rallies, including a video of a 15-year-old-girl who claims she was sexually assaulted and pepper sprayed by police at a Trump rally. The Trump ad is unusual, and it was taken down quickly, but it was picked up and re-hosted by dozens of Trump supporters, and some media outlets who cited the ad as a “strange addition” to an already unpredictable primary season.
“One very specific man might be all that stands between humanity and the greatest threat of our brief existence,” says Martin Sheen in the Trump ad, which borrows audio from Mass Effect 2.
Donald Trump tweeted out the faux-Mass Effect ad late last night, with the subtitle “make America great again.” The Trump ad features movie review style quotes from Donald Trump and his supporters, and it also spares no opportunity to take shots at Hillary Clinton, reports CNN.
The ad itself is just one of many bizarre tweets from the Donald Trump Twitter account, though this one isn’t quite as incendiary as some of his previous retweets of fan-made content – including the notorious retweet of a side-by-side comparison of Trump’s wife, Melania, and Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi. The Trump ad came from a Twitter account, titled “TrumpEffect” after the EA Games video game Mass Effect, it’s unclear whether or not the Trump campaign ad was intended to poke fun at the candidate or if it served as a genuine endorsement.
Donald Trump tweets terrible campaign ad that rips off Mass Effect: https://t.co/KkBIrW5ggM pic.twitter.com/CL9pv0bEDw
— Kotaku (@Kotaku) April 4, 2016
Regardless of the intent, ShackNews reports that the Trump ad has been taken down at the request of Electronic Arts and may pose some complicated legal questions, given that it uses content from a popular video game in order to presumably endorse a political candidate. Martin Sheen, CNN reports, can be heard in the video via his narration provided originally to Mass Effect 2. It’s unclear if Sheen supports Trump, or the use of his voice to endorse the Donald Trump campaign.
The Trump campaign ad comes out as the Republican frontrunner finds himself in a tight race ahead of Wisconsin’s primary, which could all but seal the deal for a Donald Trump nomination ahead of a contested convention this Summer, reports Fox News. Trump tweeted out the ad as the Trump campaign weathers some behind-the-scenes tension over delegates.
Fox News reports that the Trump campaign ad was retweeted by Donald Trump just hours after the Republican frontrunner suffered a bit of a setback in North Dakota. Over the weekend, Ted Cruz claimed victory in North Dakota, picking up a few delegates courtesy of the state’s Republican convention. The voting in North Dakota was reportedly unlike the primary races in most states, and featured a miniature Republican convention – which could mirror the events to take place later this Summer in Cleveland.
Donald Trump’s campaign had hoped, Fox News reports, to snag a few more delegates from the North Dakota race, as those delegates would go on to represent Trump at the Republican National Convention this Summer.
[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images]
