Trump meme roundup: From Pope Trump to a Star Wars Day lightsaber flub, the White House's AI-generated posts stir controversy
On Sunday, the White House posted to X an AI-generated image of a muscular Trump, flanked by two bald eagles and two U.S. flags, wielding a lightsaber for Star Wars Day, the unofficial celebration of the George Lucas film franchise, which occurs annually on May 4.
"Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy. You're not the Rebellion—you're the Empire," the White House post read. 'May the 4th be with you.'
But Star Wars fans were quick to point out that the color of Trump's lightsaber — red — suggests that he is aligned with the Dark Side. In the films, the villains, including Darth Vader, use red sabers. The heroes, like Luke Skywalker, use blue and green ones.
"Good guys are green and blue,' Lucas himself once explained. 'Bad guys are red. That's just the way it works."
It was the second time in three days that an AI-generated image of Trump shared by the White House prompted a backlash.
On Friday, the official White House account reposted an image that Trump shared on his Truth Social account depicting himself as the pope, the spiritual leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. Earlier in the week, Trump joked to reporters that he would 'like to be pope' following the death of Pope Francis.
Trump, who is not a Catholic, attended Francis's funeral last month.
The image drew criticism from some Catholics who continue to mourn Francis's death and from cardinals who've been in Rome ahead of the conclave that will convene to choose his successor.
'There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President,' the New York State Catholic Conference said in a post on X. 'We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.'
'Not funny, Sir,' Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David wrote in a since-deleted post on Facebook.
'I hope he didn't have anything to do with that,' said Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, when asked by reporters in Rome if he was offended by Trump's pope post. 'It wasn't good.'
Vice President JD Vance — who was one of the last people to meet with Francis before his death — defended Trump when asked by writer Bill Kristol on X whether he was 'fine with this disrespect and mocking of the holy father.'
'As a general rule, I'm fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen,' Vance replied.
In both cases, the images prompted a flood of mocking memes in response.
The White House's X account was also quick to latch onto the recent internet debate over who would win in a hypothetical fight between 100 human men and one gorilla.
On Thursday, the White House posted to X a cartoon image touting its deportations.
'100 men vs 1 gorilla is still up for debate,' the White House wrote. 'Meanwhile, 142,000+ illegal alien criminals went up against 1 President Trump — They all got deported.'
Immigration experts, though, have cast doubt on the accuracy of that deportation total. According to the most recent figures posted on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website, the total number of removals for 2025 so far is 71,405, roughly half the number projected by the Trump White House.
The Trump administration's unusual digital operation goes well beyond memes.
The White House recently launched a page on its website modeled after the Drudge Report devoted to promoting pro-Trump news stories.
One of the stories currently at the top of the new White House site is an Axios article that proclaims, 'Trump's White House is the hottest right-wing media outlet.'
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