President Donald Trump has shared a design concept for new uniforms intended for the United States Space Force, the military branch he established in 2019. The proposed design has drawn immediate criticism due to its source material: a science fiction film whose director has explicitly stated was crafted as a satire of fascism using Nazi imagery.
Trump posted the rendering on his Truth Social account over the weekend, appearing to show an AI-generated visualization of redesigned Space Force attire. The uniforms feature dark peaked caps and high leather boots, with Trump noting they drew inspiration from the 1997 film "Starship Troopers."
The film in question, however, was deliberately designed with prominent Nazi visual references. Director Paul Verhoeven, who grew up in the Netherlands during the German occupation near a Nazi military base, has described his work as an ironic portrayal of what he called a "fascist utopia." In a 2022 interview with The Guardian, Verhoeven stated: "I decided to make a movie about fascists who aren't aware of their fascism," adding that the film specifically addresses "American politics."
Verhoeven based his visual approach on fascist propaganda films such as Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" and dressed actor Neil Patrick Harris in what he himself described as SS-style uniforms. Contemporary reviews recognized these references immediately, a Washington Post critic in 1997 noted the film's "obvious Nazi fashion," while the Los Angeles Times wrote that its aesthetic was "derived from Nazi Germany."
The proposed uniform design includes what the accompanying description calls "space gray" tunics, peaked caps, and high boots inspired by the film's military costumes. The color palette features "space gray," "midnight black," "silver gray," and "satin black." While the design omits the long leather coats featured in the movie, it retains the dark, tailored tunic, peaked cap, and high boots that characterized the film's deliberately fascist aesthetic.
The current official Space Force uniforms, by contrast, follow modern American military dress conventions. They feature a tunic that closes diagonally with six buttons, symbolizing the service's status as the sixth branch of the U.S. armed forces, and maintain a broader, more contemporary military silhouette.
The description accompanying Trump's post stated the uniforms were created "inspired by the discipline and functionality of Starship Troopers uniforms" and are "upgraded for guardians of the space domain."
