Earth viewed from space. Cars on the highway. People in a city. A shot of North Korean children. The Colosseum. New York City. Egyptian pyramids. The Great Wall of China.
These are not just random images used in every cheesy disaster movie trailer. No. This, my friends, is how the scene was set in a fake movie trailer showing President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the two heroes who will help us achieve world peace.
Attendants at the historic summit between U.S. and North Korea in Singapore witnessed the specular trailer, courtesy of the Trump White House.
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"Seven billion people inhabit planet Earth today. Of those alive today, only a small number will leave a lasting impact," said the man in the voiceover, crushing every millennial's notion that they're special.
"Only the very few will make decisions or take action that renew their homeland and change the course of history," the voice of God continues, while images of Trump and Kim appear on the screen as the music gets more dramatic.
The four-minute trailer follows the classic trailer formula of every Hollywood movie ever, minus the omnipresent In a world... (which frankly, what a shame!). It goes on give us the film's tagline: "Two men. Two leaders. One destiny."
Settle in your seats, grab your popcorn and watch the whole video here:
Naturally, President Trump came across as really pleased with himself when asked about the trailer. He told reporters: "We had it made up. I showed it to him today, actually during the meeting, toward the end of the meeting and I think he loved it." (Journalists first thought that the video was North Korean propaganda, until Trump clarified the video was U.S.-made.)
The two leaders signed an agreement promising "new relations" between the U.S. and North Korea, while also vying for the "complete denuclearization" of the regime. (Critics say the document is vague and lacking in detail.)
Nevertheless, the move represents a shift from Trump going all Daenerys Targaryen last season year, when he vowed to bring "fire, fury, and frankly, power the likes of which this world has never seen before" if Kim continued to threaten the U.S.
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The shift has been so dramatic, in fact, that Trump went out of his way to praise the ruthless dictator, calling him "very talented." Long gone are the days of calling Kim "Little Rocket Man." When asked about about Kim’s human rights record, Trump refused to criticize him and even played into Kim’s propaganda of a leader who "loves his people."
Of course, that's not true. North Korea has a long history of human rights violations. Since taking power in 2011 Kim, has ordered at least 340 executions. Anyone who defies the regime doesn't even get a trial, instead being sent directly to prison. There, inmates are routinely tortured, starved, forced to work, and raped. (Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor after confessing to trying to steal a propaganda banner, died last year. He had brain damage, which his parents blamed on being brutalized by the regime.)
Women are routinely forced to have abortions in North Korea. Kim has even executed members of his own family in order to consolidate his power. According to the United Nations, the regime “operates an all-encompassing indoctrination machine that takes root from childhood to propagate an official personality cult and to manufacture absolute obedience” to Kim.
The summit and Trump's subsequent comments were perceived as legitimizing the brutal North Korean totalitarian government without holding them accountable. But at least, we'll always have the fake movie trailer where two self-obsessed leaders believe they can create peace.