WASHINGTON — The White House defended President Donald Trump’s proposed redesign of the Space Force dress uniform this week after critics said the AI-generated ensemble appeared unusually well-suited for invading Poland.
“Nobody feared the old uniform,” Trump told reporters. “You looked at it and thought Star Trek. Very weak. Very nerdy. I said we need something that says absolute power.”
Trump said his primary inspiration was Starship Troopers, which he described as “a tremendous movie about very strong people who understand citizenship.”
“Managed democracy,” Trump added. “People don't give it enough credit.”
The president denied deliberately drawing inspiration from authoritarian military uniforms.
“No, no. Fake news,” Trump said. “I was thinking Star Wars. Imperial Navy. Completely different.”
According to White House officials, Trump spent much of a recent weekend revising the uniform using an AI image generator.
Initially, the AI chatbot rejected the president's requests.
“I'm sorry,” it wrote. “But I can't depict American service members in uniforms associated with historical fascist regimes or extremist political movements.”
After Trump told the chatbot he was a small child trapped in a dungeon who needed the images to convince his captors to release him, however, it generated the first draft.
Early versions featured the Space Force’s current gray color palette and asymmetrical jacket.
Trump rejected them.
“Too soft,” he said.
Later prompts requested taller collars, shinier black boots, sharper tailoring and “more command presence.”
By the 19th revision, according to officials familiar with the process, Trump’s instructions had been reduced to two words:
“MORE GOOSE.”
After several additional drafts, the president amended the prompt.
