Even people who participated in the Jan. 6 riots are turning on President Donald Trump because of the White House’s insane Iran memes.
In a bid to sell 79-year-old Trump’s unpopular conflict, the country’s highest office has deployed a social media strategy that some say “trivializes” an operation that has killed over 1,000, including at least 175 people, mostly children, at a school. One Jan. 6er, Nathan Hughes, said on Friday that the incessant posting from the White House is “cringe.”
The White House press team has rattled off roughly a dozen videos featuring references to memes, popular computer games, and movies.
Hughes, who was convicted of multiple felony and misdemeanor offenses related to his conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, invoked the strike on a children’s school as he lamented the posting.
“Why is the @WhiteHouse posting cringe memes of us dropping bombs on Iran after they just blew up an elementary school full of children?“ he wrote on X.
“And no I’m not a ‘libtard’ I’m a Jan 6er that voted Trump 3 times, but I didn’t vote for this ret---ed a-- s--t,” he said using a derogatory term for a liberal person and later a slur for a person with disabilities.
He later added that “the only people it appeals to are boomers that have been psyop’d to support this war.”
Many more voters agreed in the comments. “Thank you for speaking out. I’m a three time Trump holder and feel the same way you do. We didn’t change, he did,” another disgruntled voter said.
Beyond sour Trump supporters, the posts have been broadly criticized.
“Are you trying to appeal to 12 year olds?” one critic asked on X, after the official White House account posted a bizarre bowling-themed video.
Iran also released an AI-generated propaganda movie featuring demented Lego-style figurines wreaking revenge for U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on the country.
Other eyebrow-raising productions from the White House parody the Grand Theft Auto computer game series, MLB players slugging balls (which turn into explosives), NFL stars tackling opponents, and Nintendo characters from Wii games.
In another, they ripped off movies Braveheart, Deadpool, Top Gun, Superman, Transformers and Tropic Thunder, as well as series Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and others. Star and director of Tropic Thunder, Ben Stiller, asked them to remove it. “We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine. War is not a movie,” he wrote on X.
Several NFL players have spoken out against the administration for using their athletic prowess to make light of the war, and now disillusioned Trump voters are joining them.
Mike Wilnau, a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida’s 11th Congressional District, expressed his dissatisfaction. “Trump is the only president I’ve ever voted for (turned 18 in 2016), and I’m done with all of it,” the 27-year-old wrote.
In a separate post, he shared the Wii video from the White House and said, “This would be so funny if we were talking about mass deportations, lowering the cost of living, arresting the deep state criminals, and publicly executing the Epstein class (I’m looking at you, Howard). This is the Goy Slop they’re feeding you instead of fulfilling the mandate.”
Despite the pushback, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the social media strategy is here to stay. She hyped up the military action that the U.S. has dubbed “Operation Epic Fury,” and added, “The legacy media wants us to apologize for highlighting the United States Military’s incredible success, but the White House will continue showcasing the many examples of Iran’s ballistic missiles, production facilities, and dreams of owning a nuclear weapon being destroyed in real time.”
