Politicians and candidates referencing comic books and movies is nothing new. Cong. Alan Grayson sent an email referencing Green Lantern. Marco Rubio’s Presidential team listed their love of comics on their Twitter profile.

Republican Presidential candidate Rand Paul has gone on a weird tangent comparing fellow Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump to Gollum from The Lord of the Rings.

In a Facebook post entitled “Electing Gollum Should Not Be Our Objective,” Paul for President wrote:

One candidate on this national stage wants you to give him power. He tells you he is rich, so he must be smart.

If you give him power he claims he will fix America, but there is another tradition in America. A tradition that believes that power corrupts, and that our goal should be not to gain power but to contain power or limit Presidential power. Our founding fathers feared centralization of power.

They wrote the constitution to restrain the accumulation of power by the government. Trump is ignorant of this tradition, or worse yet, he is overtly opposed to the limited government tradition.

This race should not be about who can grasp the ring. Electing Gollum should not be our objective. This race should be about which candidate will best protect you from an overbearing government.

I am the only one on this national stage who really doesn’t want power or dominion over you. I want to set you free, I want to leave you alone, and I want a government so small you can barely see it.

The Lord of the Rings reference comes out of left field a bit. In an email Paul’s team continued, expanding on the metaphor with a fundraising pitch:

In many ways, the campaign for the Republican nomination for President of the United States has reminded me of one of my favorite movie series.

Lord of the Rings.

You may recall the character Gollum. Gollum was a man who become corrupted by absolute power, and became obsessed with obtaining the “Ring of Power, the ring to rule them all”.

Donald Trump shares Gollum’s unquenchable thirst for absolute power and to rule over Mordor. Or in this case, Washington, D.C.

Patriot, you and I must do everything that we can stop Gollum from gaining the Ring of Power.

Will you donate anything you can afford to help my campaign?

You may also recall there is a scene in the last movie, where Aragorn is leading his men into battle against Suaron and his Orc armies.

He tells them this before the battle:

“I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day… Today we fight!”

As we approach the Iowa Caucus, your support means more than ever.

Together, we can defeat Donald Trump, win the Iowa Caucus and defeat the Washington Machine. Donate anything you can today.

I am counting on you.

Ok, maybe they shouldn’t have expanded on it? Where to begin, but we’ll go for the easiest:

1. Gollum is a Stoor Hobbit, not a man
2. Gollum doesn’t want to rule Mordor

So, while a nice attempt recounting Paul’s “favorite movie,” the email fails on multiple levels, and should cost him the Tolkein fan vote.