Explaining the viral irony of The White House's 'Superman Trump' post
James Gunn's bold and boisterous take on the beloved superhero opened last week and has already taken $217m at the global box office ($122m of which in the US and Canada) - stats which should make Warner Bros. breathe a heavy sigh of relief following the lackluster performance of some of its previous DC comic book adaptations.
Not sure how the studio feels about the fact The White House got in on the action by sharing a meme of Donald Trump as the Man of Steel...
The image posted by The White House was captioned with: 'THE SYMBOL OF HOPE. TRUTH. JUSTICE. THE AMERICAN WAY. SUPERMAN TRUMP'.
The character is quintessentially American and his latest big screen iteration has driven some right-wing commentators in the US into a tizzy over some of its real-life geopolitical parallels. They even described it as 'woke' after Gunn described the superhero from Krypton as 'an immigrant'.
We refer to these aspects in our review of Superman, in which we wrote: 'The 'silliness' of Gunn's approach feels bold in these current times – and the director knows what he's doing. He clearly understands that superhero fatigue has settled in; his reset doubles down on the fun factor without shying away from some real-world mirroring. This may not be anything new for Superman films, but the inclusion of xenophobia laced with cancel culture (aided by social media bots / monkeys) and the contentious Middle Eastern geopolitical dispute with obvious – but not overplayed - topical parallels to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Palestine conflict is a bold touch. You can almost hear nose-bleedingly annoying comments about Superman going 'woke' - the pithy last defence of those who never tire of shouting at clouds. But that's what Superman has always been: an alien humanitarian who fights for justice and for whom 'kindness is punk rock'.'
Read the full review here.
Many social media users picked up on a glaring irony at the heart of Trump being portrayed as Big Blue, considering the Trump administration's anti-immigration agenda, which has led to wide protests over the ICE raids this year.
"Superman was an illegal immigrant growing up on American farm and a hero from a comic book. Trump is a total opposite of Superman, a Superloser," posted AI creator Mario Pawlowksi, while the press office of California Governor Gavin Newsom echoed Gunn's comment by posting: "Superman was an undocumented immigrant."
Other reactions ranged from embarrassment to despair:
'I guess they thought we weren't enough of a laughingstock to the rest of the world already.'
Another X user urged James Gunn to sue The White House...
One posted another meme implying that the Trump equivalent of Superman's Achilles heel, the glowing Kryptonite, were the Epstein Files.
Then there were plenty of comments on the 'new normal', with Zeteo editor-in-chief and CEO, Mehdi Hasan posting: 'Just imagine the response if the Biden White House had posted something like this. But Trump is graded on some kind of never-seen-before curve and this craziness is normalized."
This is not the first time that the official account of The White House has posted memes or AI-generated images of Trump.
Earlier this year, to mark Star Wars Day (May 4th), the account posted an image of Trump as a jacked Jedi.
The image went viral, with many also pointing out an obvious irony to the post: Trump was holding a red lightsaber, an element even the most casual Star Wars fans can recognise as being the chosen colour of the villainous Sith Lords – not the benevolent Jedis.
Trump also shared another image this year which garnered much criticism: a version of his as the pope, posted after he jokingly stated he should succeed the late Pope Francis.
Republicans against Trump reposted the image on X, calling it 'a blatant insult to Catholics and a mockery of their faith', while former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi wrote on X: 'This is an image that offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the global right enjoys being a clown. In the meantime, the American economy risks recession and the dollar loses value.'
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