John Kasich’s Star Wars tribute proclaimed him 'only hope' to beat Clinton

It’s May 4, which means Star Wars fans with bad senses of humor will be saying “May the 4th be with you.”

But after Tuesday’s Indiana primary did all but crown Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, John Kasich’s campaign was punning on another Star Wars line: “Help us, John Kasich, you’re our only hope.”

Hours after posting the ad, reports indicated Kasich would end his presidential bid.

The new ad released Wednesday morning on Twitter parodies the Star Wars series’ iconic opening scroll, painting a future of a Democratic-controlled government of 2017 with Hillary Clinton as president, Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker and Elizabeth Warren as Supreme Court justice.

Tax hikes in the republic! Restrictions on the Second Amendment! Obamacare funding! And so on.

“But we have hope it can be different,” the opening concludes. It then cuts to clips of journalists citing studies that suggest Kasich would be the only Republican candidate capable of defeating Clinton in a general election.

Indeed, multiple polls have found Kasich fared  better than Donald Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup against Hillary Clinton. Kasich was the only Republican to top Clinton in a March poll from Quinnipiac University, besting her by 8 points. Another poll that month from Monmouth University found the same thing, with Kasich beating Clinton by 6 points. Yet another Quinnipiac poll in April showed Kasich as the only Republican ahead of Clinton in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.

But, as it turned out, the Force was no longer with him.