Seven Ways the Trump Administration Channels the Movie Idiocracy

On May 26th, construction began at the White House. No, not further development of President Trump’s shiny new ballroom — instead, an arena was being built for this June’s UFC Freedom 50 event, a night of MMA fights set to take place on the South Lawn. The image of a 90-foot-tall arch hovering over the iconic American landmark was both garish and somehow spiritually quite familiar : A reminder of just how much of Mike Judge ’s Idiocracy has come to pass.

The 2006 comedy, barely released in theaters before becoming a cult hit on home video, has long been a touchstone for pessimists. Luke Wilson stars as Joe, the most statistically average human being then serving in the US Military. As part of a science experiment, Joe gets put into suspended animation in the year 2005 and awoken in 2505; in this brave new world, he’s now the smartest man in America, which has become significantly dumber over the course of centuries.

In reality, just twenty years have passed since the release of Idiocracy , and there have been some notable ways that Judge’s satire has aligned uncomfortably with reality. Below are seven of the biggest ways in which reality and fiction feel like they’re blending, and what the real-life implications have been.

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President Trump Has a Lot of Pro Wrestling Experience

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In Idiocracy , the leader of the free world is named Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, and he is played by Terry Crews, and he dresses appropriately to his station: An American flag bandana and skintight tank top with the seal of the President.

Trump does not wear those items. He wears suits. However, he is no stranger to the ring — he’s literally in the WWE Hall of Fame , after making multiple appearances at pro-wrestling events organized by his pal Vince McMahon. Trump hasn’t made a major appearance at a WWE event since 2013, despite being invited to John Cena’s retirement match in December 2025. However, in addition to his long history with the organization, Linda McMahon still currently serves as the Trump administration’s Secretary of Education, and WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque is on The President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition .

(One thing about President Camacho — he doesn’t have to constantly take cognitive ability tests .)

We’re All About that New Slang Now

Life in 2026 involves constantly trying to keep up with various catchphrases — like, bro, are you looksmaxxing to your optimum levels of rizz? Folks living in Idiocracy , meanwhile, have the grammar of a Hulk and their own fondness for creating shortened new terms for common words. Why go to all the trouble of saying “masturbating” when “‘batin!” does the job just fine?

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The Birth Rate Is Down

Idiocracy (20th Century Fox)

In Idiocracy , Judge explains that the future dumbing-down of America is caused by intelligent people choosing not to reproduce, while less-intelligent people pop out babies like it’s going out of style. Here, Judge hasn’t fully predicted the future, because regardless of intelligence, people are giving birth less: According to a recent Johns Hopkins report , the U.S. fertility rate, which tracks the number of children born to women of childbearing age, dropped to 1.6 births per woman, an all-time low, and the global birth rate is also in decline.

This could have serious ramifications for basic tentpoles of American life down the line, such as Social Security and Medicare needs booming just as fewer working adults are paying into those programs. If folks like Elon Musk didn’t see this as strictly an emergency situation for white people , then immigration would be considered a potential solution. Either way, a world not on the verge of a population explosion may see environmental benefits — and the environment can use all the help it can get.

The Environment Is In Crisis, and the Government Isn’t Helping

The future of Idiocracy is a world in environmental crisis, with massive pollution, garbage everywhere, and crops dying. Explaining all the various environmental disasters currently being faced by today’s world would take a dozen more listicles — right now, our giant piles of garbage are just being kept in the ocean.

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At least American farmers aren’t currently dealing with the agricultural aftereffects of a sports drink being used in place of water! No, instead they’re struggling thanks to a variety of economic and environmental factors , including Trump’s tariffs and rising fuel costs due to the war in Iran. There’s one group that’s definitely not suffering today, though…

Corporations Are Buying Into the Government More than Ever

The reason crops are being fed Brawndo in Idiocracy is not because it’s got what plants crave — it’s because the Brawndo Corporation now owns the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Department of Agriculture. In this reality, meanwhile, we’ve got Elon Musk dismantling huge parts of the government while carving out opportunities for his own businesses.

Plus, there are the corporate sponsors who have come on board to support projects like the construction of Trump’s aforementioned ballroom, a list that includes Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Google, HP, Lockheed Martin, Meta, Microsoft, Palantir Technologies, Reynolds American, and T-Mobile. The American Bar Association’s Human Rights Magazine refers to this as “rampant pay-to-play corruption” .

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It’s a Virtue to Be Crude and Dumb

In addition to a heavy emphasis on slang, the language of 2505 is notably more crude: Carl’s Jr.’s official motto is “Carl’s Jr… Fuck You, I’m Eating,” and use of the R-word is rampant. It’s also a world where being smart (relatively) like Joe is not considered a virtue, with Joe nearly getting a public execution for the crime of trying to save the nation’s crops from Brawndo. A modern comparison point would have to be Trump’s increasingly profane speeches , which along with the right’s fervent anti-intellectual bias , means that as stated above, crudeness and dumbness have come to feel like virtues in this political climate. Not to mention in the world of entertainment…

“Ow My Balls!” Still Thrives in Spirit

When Idiocracy came out, the Jackass franchise was already a few years old. Now, the fifth and (allegedly) final movie is set to debut in theaters this June, and social video has ensured that if you want to spend hours watching nutshots (and dashcam crashes, and cake fails, and so many other disasters), there’s an app for that. Thankfully, this isn’t the only kind of content available on TV these days. But who knows what will happen over the next 20 years — or five centuries.

Idiocracy is available on VOD via Apple TV and Amazon , and you can purchase it on DVD through Amazon as well.

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_Originally reported by [Consequence](https://consequence.net/2026/05/idiocracy-trump-why-its-relevant-to-today/)._