On Wednesday night, social media users were left puzzled when the Trump White House shared a couple of odd videos on its official X and Instagram accounts, subsequently removing one of them.
The initial video, which was later deleted, appeared around 9:15 p.m. ET. It featured someone wearing black pointed-toe boots, accompanied by a woman’s voice asking, “It’s launching soon, right?” The video also included the text prompt, “sound on.”
The second video, which was posted at 10 p.m. ET and remained online as of Thursday morning, showcased a black screen with the sound of an iPhone text message notification. An American flag briefly flashed on the screen. The post was captioned with emojis representing a smartphone and a speaker playing sound.
The White House did not provide an immediate comment or clarification regarding these peculiar posts.
The unusual posts drew criticism from commentators across the political spectrum.
“This communications strategy is baffling and annoying, and it isn’t putting anyone at ease. Are you aware we’re in a conflict?” questioned Noah Rothman, a senior writer for the National Review. “Surely, there must be a few people over 25 you can consult before posting.”
“[A]lways great when the White House official account starts posting creepy snatches of video like they’re outtakes from THE RING,” snarked Rothman’s National Review colleague, Jeff Blehar. “Next one will just be a child’s voice whispering ‘SEVEN DAYS.’”
“This is psychotic behavior,” posted US military veteran John Jackson, a critic of the administration. “We are in a major conflict and they are vagueposting War of the Worlds slop. What is the f— is this supposed to mean?”
Others speculated that the videos were some sort of coded message to the people of Iran, a warning of a tactical nuclear strike, or an announcement about alien activity.
