Donald Trump quotes Bane from 'The Dark Knight Rises' in his inauguration speech

Culture

President Donald Trump was officially sworn into office Friday — a sentence that is still incomprehensible — and his inaugural address hit the right notes that his beloved deplorables want to hear. Mainly, that Trump wants America to focus on Americans first and we're all going to start "winning as never before." Man, so much winning. 

But if your knowledge of pop culture is predicated around being a Christopher Nolan fan, then one part of Trump's speech might seem eerily familiar. 

"Today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another," Trump says. "We are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people." 

Doesn't this remind you, just a bit, of the rousing speech everyone's favorite Batman villain that sounds like Sean Connery choking on a spoonful of peanut butter gave in The Dark Knight Rises? Yeah, Bane — or Bae-ne, if you'll grant me — definitely echoed those same sentiments when addressing the citizens of Gotham. 

"We take Gotham from the corrupt!" Bane says. "The rich! The oppressors of generations who have kept you down with myths of opportunity, and we give it back to you, the people." 

Are there any other parallels between The Dark Knight Rises and the Trump presidency? Perhaps there are. 

As the compelling final installment in the Nolan Dark Knight trilogy reveals, Bane is actually a lackey for the real villain: Talia al Ghul. Is Trump merely an underling to the real architect of chaos, campaign manager and Paddington Bear enthusiast Kellyanne Conway? Full Frontal's Samantha Bee made a compelling argument this week, and like Talia al Ghul, perhaps we're underestimating this "spokes-cobra."  

We know this is a lot to take in at once, and we don't want the dreariness of Trump's inauguration to spoil everyone's enjoyment of the best film ever made. Still, as Bane once so eloquently said through his muffled growls: "Theatricality and deception are powerful agents to the uninitiated." 

Stay woke.