If you were on X this past Election Day, there’s a good chance you stumbled across one of the most epic pieces of content to grace the internet since Snoop Dogg’s narration of Planet Earth: a frenetic, tightly-wound video edit of Trump and Elon titled “The Final Countdown,” by the user 𝐒🌞(@Esoviz).

Set to a fast-paced, synthwave remix of Europe’s “The Final Countdown,” the edit can best be described as visual Adderall. Anime characters ride into battle donning black MAGA hats. Elon goes Super Saiyan at a Trump rally. Hulk Hogan screams, “This is Donald Trump’s house, brother!” right before the beat drops. It’s enough to make you want to run through a wall, even if you’re not a MAGA diehard.

On Election Day, Elon shared the video with the caption “Dark MAGA Assemble!” To date, it’s been viewed over 91 million times and has nearly 1 million likes on X, while similar Trump edits by accounts such as Beachboy007 (@ChrisWinig) have also garnered massive engagement on social media.

I spoke to 𝐒🌞 to get more insight into his motivation behind creating this visual tour de force — how did he get into video editing to begin with, what were his goals, and what has the reception been to “The Final Countdown” since he posted it?

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What got you started making these Trump edits and doing video editing in general? Did you have any specific goals with the Trump edits or were you just making them for the love of the game?

I started editing simply because I always found joy in it — I appreciated how it was a way of turning my ideas/thoughts into something more real and tangible. I’ve always been interested in reading obscure/taboo topics from various parts of the internet, which eventually led me to this side of X/Twitter. Most of my editing is done during times of low sleep with added time pressure, which I feel creates a “rush” that helps with ideas as I’m going through the process of making the edit. I didn’t have any specific goals for the Trump edit except to make it ‘DARK MAGA’ — which was made mainstream by the @DarkMagaCoin community on X which I am also a part of. I don’t recall everything about my process here, but I do remember trying to make the video look as powerful as possible — better than anything else out there. I wasn’t getting paid for this. No one had asked me to make this. I was also on vacation so I had every excuse to not make it, but I still did because it was election night, the energy was high, and I wanted to amplify it even more. I’m so glad that I was able to do just that.

Aside from Elon's retweets, have you interacted with any high-profile individuals as a result of putting out these edits? Has anyone from the Trump orbit reached out to you to compliment your work?

Some other prominent accounts who shared my Dark MAGA edit were @Aesthetica, @WarClandestine, and @AutismCapital among others, mostly from right-wing X/Twitter. I also had some backlash from big anime fan accounts on TikTok for “using anime in right-wing propaganda.” They were absurdly wrong, of course, because anime is right-wing culture. No one from Trump’s orbit reached out, but I did receive countless compliments from people on X and YouTube, and I always love reading encouraging comments — they make me want to continue making more edits.

How does making these edits intertwine with the rest of your life? Do you have another job in addition to making these edits? Have you received requests for editing work from people impressed with the clips you've put out?

Editing and creating content used to be something I would just do when I had spare time, but it eventually turned into my job. I work in the crypto space, mostly on making content for meme coins. I also have my own coin called $SWAG (@Swagoneth). I do get frequent messages from people asking me to make edits for them, mostly all from guys in the crypto space.

Do you coordinate with other editors? Is there a planned strategy with these clips, or do you just post whatever banger content personally inspires you?

I work alone, and don’t even write out a plan for the edit. I have a general vibe or emotions in my mind that I want to evoke, and I try to create those emotions throughout the video. I like to have the viewer in my mind and imagine how they would feel after watching a particular scene or transition. I never make videos with the thought of trying to convince anyone of anything — I make them simply because I have fun doing so.

-Riley Nork