These memes have sparked outrage from Democrats and adulation from MAGA Republicans.
The White House has pushed out a seemingly nonstop stream of viral social media posts since President Donald Trump entered office—the work of a handful of young aides who gleefully repost them on their own accounts.
But it was the most recent post on Thursday—which turned Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) arrest of an undocumented immigrant into a cartoon through the use of artificial intelligence—that caused an explosion of scrutiny about who is behind the posts.
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The meme made headlines nationwide, with Democrats calling it offensive and disrespectful. Other commenters defended the White House, saying the joke was justified since the woman was arrested for trafficking fentanyl in 2020.
Meet the Young Creators Behind the White House’s Social Accounts
The Daily Beast can offer some answers about one of the White House’s most closely guarded secrets: The memes are the work of a young team that includes a principal deputy communications director, a deputy communications director, and a director of digital content.
The latter is Billy McLaughlin, who put his own spin on the ICE meme when he posted it on his personal Instagram account, adding the caption “Fenty girl bye.” “Fenty” appears to be short for “fentanyl”; it is also a lingerie range sold by the singer Rihanna. McLaughlin, who took the job at 29, has now set his account to private.
McLaughlin is not listed on the official White House page but recently celebrated on LinkedIn after getting the digital content director role. He has frequently reposted the White House’s memes to his own nearly 16K followers.
He went to American University’s business school and previously worked as a social media manager, digital director, and spokesman for the National Rifle Association (NRA).
The White House declined to comment on its use of memes or McLaughlin’s involvement.
The other young MAGA men behind these viral posts are part of Trump’s Office of Communications, which lists 28-year-old Alex Pfeiffer as the principal deputy communications director. He also helped lead communications for Trump’s 2024 campaign and for super PAC MAGA Inc. after serving as editorial producer for Fox News’s Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Pfeiffer also reposted the ICE meme, saying, “This is a drawing depicting a convicted fentanyl dealer being arrested by ICE. Some people on this website are more upset about a drawing than the poisoning of Americans.”
He added, “This Administration will continue to arrest and deport fentanyl dealers—even the ones that cry.”
Deputy Communications Director Kaelan Dorr, 32, worked on Trump’s campaign, at MAGA Inc., and as the Global Head of Marketing and Engagement for GETTR, a social media platform and microblogging site that targets American conservatives.
Dorr reposted the Studio Ghibli meme on his own account amid the fallout.
“Disappointing that folks are more upset about this meme than they are about the fentanyl crisis,” he said on X. “People hate our President so much that they’re defending someone who contributed to the murder of Americans by selling fentanyl. The arrests will continue. The memes will continue.”
The Office of Communications includes other young members like Assistant Communications Director for Special Projects Dylan Johnson, 26, who was campaign manager for Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens. Johnson posts his own memes on his X account, including one of Maine Gov. Janet Mills with the words “pov [point of view]: you just got wrecked by the president of the united states on live television” and a photo of the Democrat looking forlorn.
Cutting AI Use
The use of AI shows how the Trump aides pride themselves on being on the bleeding edge of online culture.
Creators used ChatGPT, which released a new version Tuesday, to fashion an image of the ICE arrest in the style of anime house Studio Ghibli, which produced Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Ponyo.
The cartoon version of a real arrest was not the first MAGA twist on an online trend.
For Valentine’s Day, the White House posted floating heads of President Trump and border czar Tom Homan on a pink background with the words “Roses are red, violets are blue, come here illegally and we’ll deport you.”
Then there was the viral “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight,” which featured video footage of immigration agents handcuffing a detainee and escorting him onto a plane. ASMR stands for “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response”—the tingling feeling that occurs in response to auditory stimuli. The ASMR trend—which includes videos of whispering, tapping, and hair-brushing sounds—has existed since the early 2010s and has inspired celebrities like Margot Robbie and Cardi B to create their own videos.
The White House also seemed to scoff at immigrants when it posted a photo of Trump at a McDonald’s drive-thru to poke fun at Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist and Brown University professor who was expelled from the country after visiting her home country of Lebanon. She was detained and deported even though she had a valid visa and a court order temporarily blocking her removal. The White House said the move was “commonsense security” because she had attended the funeral of an apparent Hezbollah member.
A few days after the president tried to cancel congestion pricing in Manhattan in February, the White House account posted an image of Trump on a magazine cover with a crown and the text: “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is saved. LONG LIVE THE KING.”
Trump has also reposted AI-generated images on his own Truth Social account, including one of him triumphantly riding a lion and Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaking to a crowd in a communist and Soviet-style political convention. And let’s not forget when the president re-posted the unhinged AI video of his vision for “Trump Gaza,” which featured bearded belly dancers and a massive gold statue of himself.
