Racist president-elect and steak salesman Donald Trump’s literary voice is a sort of strident, bludgeoning thing, re-creating in words and sentences the same petulant, antsy demeanor he evinced during all of his presidential debates. It is the exact tone that would form from an asshole whose first and only engagement with the written word is the medium and context of Twitter. Shout it into the abyss and see what nets the most outrage.
Because of this, and also because of his blackened, malevolent heart, Trump’s “Happy New Year’s” tweet makes a perfect fit for the vocal stylings of Mark Hamill, the long-time voice of the the animated Joker. Hamill was happy to oblige.
Hamill is a vocal chameleon—most of his career, post-Skywalker, has been in the recording booth, and his froglike impression of George Lucas remains the world’s greatest. And so he really gets into character here, particular in the nonverbal final half, during which he secretes the sort of long, barely conscious, hate-filled hiss that is implied after every one of Trump’s actual tweets.
Matt Oswalt (brother of Patton) was the first to suggest the pairing between Hamill and our glorious generalissimo Trump, back at the end of last year.
As Gizmodo points out, the tweet had already made good source material for Futurama’s Zapp Branigan, which voice actor Billy West was equally happy to re-create.
Hamill labels his Trump take as “#1,” suggesting that additional readings are planned. However, Trump takes office in less than two weeks, after which such tweets will be treason, so Hamill better hurry up.
Note: Gizmodo, like The A.V. Club, is owned by Univision Communications.