WASHINGTON – In the political world beyond social media, President Donald Trump is facing stubborn challenges: slowing inflation, confronting Iran’s government and reviving U.S. manufacturing through tariffs.
But the version of Trump presented to his supporters online tells a far more cinematic story. Over Labor Day weekend, Trump and the White House flooded social media with an unusually intense wave of memes casting the president as a figure of unmatched strength and control.
In one video, Trump appears as a superhero using Green Lantern’s ring to instantly raise a border wall against migrants and conjure rows of bustling factories. Another image places him in a U.S. hockey uniform towering over Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is shown shrinking on the ice. A separate post depicts Trump aboard a military vessel as it fires on an opposing fleet.
Trump’s political appeal has long been built around a larger-than-life persona, stretching from “The Apprentice” to the presidency. Yet as the midterm elections approach, the distance between online fantasy and governing reality has grown harder to ignore. Most U.S. adults disapprove of his handling of the economy and say the war with Iran has not been worth the cost, even as Trump leans into exaggerated images portraying himself as invincible and all-powerful.
Memes risk pulling focus from reality
Some of the visuals appear to be created with artificial intelligence, and the administration has previously brushed off criticism by describing the memes as humorous and detractors as unable to take a joke. Still, the political stakes are substantial for congressional Republicans, many of whom have linked their fortunes to a president struggling with low approval ratings. The party is preparing to spotlight Trump at an unconventional midterm convention Wednesday and Thursday in Dallas, aiming to boost enthusiasm among voters.
Republican strategist Kevin Madden said Trump’s posts may help fire up his core “Make America Great Again” supporters. The downside, he noted, is that the online spectacle does little to address voters’ concerns about rising costs.
The voters most likely to decide control of Congress in the midterm elections “are not going to be won over with memes,” Madden said. “The affordability voter is driving this election cycle and the issues they care about are anchored in the economy.”
The White House press office did not respond to a request for comment. Trump sometimes plucks memes from a sprawling ecosystem of online conservative supporters, and sometimes his government staff produces them as part of their official messaging. Recently they created a series of old-school video games, such as a “Tetris” knockoff called “Build the Wall.”
“The memes will continue,” Kaelan Dorr, a member of the White House communications team, recently posted on social media. “The winning will continue.”
Aging presidents promote vitality online
The problem for Trump is that voters have other images they’re using to define him. Drivers can spot through their windshields that gasoline is averaging $4.15 a gallon, up nearly 30% from a year ago because of the Iran war. And social media is inundated with questions about the 80-year-old president’s health and vitality, spurred by pictures of his bruised hands or video clips of him appearing to fall asleep in meetings.
White House officials have said the bruising is caused by “frequent handshaking” and Trump’s aspirin regimen, and they’ve denied that he’s dozed off.
Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, is three years older and faced relentless scrutiny about his age while in office. His White House came to embrace a meme version of Biden with lasers for eyes, suggesting that he was powerful and focused rather than infirm.
Andrew Bates, who was a deputy press secretary for Biden, said that Trump’s memes seem to be about avoiding the actual responsibilities of governing. He said they risk angering voters who see Trump as more focused on redecorating the White House than bringing the Iran war to a successful end.
“When a president who ran on bringing gas prices under $2 a gallon is now saying, ‘You’re at four dollars, it’s OK,’ it unfortunately makes sense that he’s also posting fever dreams,” Bates said.
Some memes have caused trouble
The memes have occasionally gotten Trump into trouble. He posted an image of himself as Jesus in April, which caused a degree of consternation among some supporters. The president later claimed he thought the image showed him as a medical doctor — albeit a doctor in Biblical robes with light emanating from his hands.
In February, his account posted a racist video of former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as primates, which he deleted after a backlash.
Last October, Trump shared a video of him in a fighter jet dumping feces on Americans who were protesting his policies.
What the memes have not done so far is boost his wider approval ratings. Only 33% of U.S. adults approve of how he is handling the job of being president, according to a July AP-NORC poll.
But the polling also hits at a reason why he might be sending the memes to rally his core supporters. Just 15% of U.S. adults strongly approve of his presidency, the poll found, a slight decline from 22% shortly after he took office.
