To mark the first six months of President Donald Trump\u2019s second term in office, the White House shared a social media post promising three things will continue as his term proceeds: the \u201cwinning,\u201d the deportations and the memes. <\/p>\n
\u201cATTENTION: TRUMP DIDN\u2019T COME TO PLAY,\u201d reads the caption of the post, which was uploaded to Instagram<\/a> and X on Sunday<\/a>. It\u2019s coupled with an illustration of Trump in front of an American flag, a bald eagle, fireworks and dollar bills. <\/p>\n The post is a window into how the White House has approached its overall social media strategy during Trump\u2019s second term. Previously, official White House social media accounts were used largely to promote presidents\u2019 policies.<\/p>\n Since January, however, the Trump administration has shifted its tone on social media to cater to its MAGA base. Many posts \u2014 several of which play off of trending memes \u2014 appear to showcase aggression toward some longtime political targets for Trump, such as immigrants and Democrats. <\/p>\n The memes have included: a cartoon depiction<\/a> of a person who appears to be a migrant crying while being arrested, a fake dating app profile<\/a> matching a \u201crecently arrested\u201d woman with ICE and a Valentine\u2019s Day card<\/a> that read: \u201cRoses are red, violets are blue. Come here illegally and we\u2019ll deport you.\u201d <\/p>\n Such posts have generated some shock online, which the White House itself appears to have referred to this month. In a post on X<\/a>, the official account wrote: \u201cNowhere in the Constitution does it say we can\u2019t post banger memes.\u201d The image in the post is of a sign on the White House lawn that reads, \u201coMg, diD tHe wHiTE hOuSE reALLy PosT tHis?\u201d<\/p>\n The official White House social media accounts, and those for government agencies, are different from Trump\u2019s or other officials\u2019 personal accounts. The official accounts are passed along to each new administration for their officials to use, and since the Obama administration<\/a>, each account\u2019s content has been archived by the National Archives, in compliance with the Presidential Records Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n But several official White House posts highlight or pull language from Trump\u2019s personal account on his platform, Truth Social,<\/a> where he frequently blasts his political opponents or shares images that appear to have been made with artificial intelligence tools<\/a>. White House accounts have also shared AI-generated images of Trump as the pope<\/a>, a \u201cStar Wars\u201d character<\/a> and Superman<\/a>. <\/p>\n Joshua Tucker, a co-director of New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics, said such posts are designed to \u201cget people\u2019s attention.\u201d <\/p>\n Social media has drastically changed since Trump\u2019s first term \u2014 when users would mainly see posts from accounts they followed. Now, many social media platforms use an individualized algorithm for each account that Tucker said \u201cprivileges things that pop and that go viral.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not quite in the world where it\u2019s just like, \u2018If I just tweet, all my followers are going to see what I tweet,\u2019\u201d Tucker said. \u201cIt\u2019s \u2018I need to come up with something that\u2019s going to be catchy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Among the potential cons of the strategy, Tucker said, is the White House\u2019s \u201cpushing back against norms of what is proprietary in terms of official statements.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about the administration\u2019s use of social media during Trump\u2019s second term, White House spokesperson Liz Huston said, \u201cEvery day, the White House digital accounts highlight President Trump\u2019s widely popular America First agenda and the tangible quality-of-life improvements he has delivered for Americans nationwide.\u201d<\/p>\n Other official government accounts for various agencies have taken on similar tones. <\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security\u2019s official account has promoted self-deportation<\/a> through the CBP One app by posting a video set to the song \u201cTake Me Home, Country Roads.\u201d The song \u201cIce, Ice Baby\u201d is the soundtrack for another video pointing viewers to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement tip line.<\/p>\n In June, DHS also posted what appeared to be an AI-made image<\/a> of alligators with caps that read \u201cICE\u201d on them, writing in the post, \u201cComing soon!\u201d It came amid the opening of a controversial immigrant detention center in Florida, which state Republicans have informally dubbed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Asked whether she is concerned about the content\u2019s being divisive or making light of issues the administration wants people to take seriously, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said: \u201cNot at all.\u201d<\/p>\n McLaughlin said she sees the role of the DHS social media accounts as giving people \u201cthe truth\u201d and circumventing media outlets she deems hostile. <\/p>\n \u201cEight years ago, under the first Trump administration, we didn\u2019t have the social media environment that we have today, and so I think that we were more beholden to what the media was saying, and we couldn\u2019t necessarily straighten out the facts,\u201d McLaughlin said. \u201cAnd now, you know, we have a presence that we\u2019re able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Parker Butler, who ran the @KamalaHQ accounts<\/a> as the director of digital rapid response for the Biden-turned-Harris 2024 presidential campaign, described what the White House is doing online as \u201ctrolling for the sake of trolling.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey are just basically throwing toxic sludge out there and trying to gin up people\u2019s reactions,\u201d Butler said. \u201cAnd they call that a digital strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n They are just basically throwing toxic sludge out there and trying to gin up people\u2019s reactions.<\/p>\n Parker Butler, who ran the @KamalaHQ accounts for the Biden-turned-Harris 2024 presidential campaign<\/p>\n It\u2019s a perspective that has been echoed by others who follow politics and have also noticed the shift. <\/p>\n \u201cLike a runaway train, the Republican Party is barreling toward a future in which posting is politics \u2014 or, the purest function of politics,\u201d writer Nathan Taylor Pemberton<\/a> argued in a recent op-ed for The New York Times titled \u201cTrolling Democracy.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s a grim, ugly and barren place.\u201d <\/p>\n But the White House points to growth on multiple digital platforms as evidence its strategy is effective. A White House official said the administration\u2019s official social media accounts, including on Truth Social, have added over 16 million new followers across platforms since Inauguration Day. <\/p>\n The administration also has engaged social media stars to try to generate a broader audience. In May, Trump gave comedian Theo Von<\/a> \u2014 one of YouTube\u2019s most popular creators, particularly among young male conservatives \u2014 the role of warmup act at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, where Trump addressed U.S. service members. <\/p>\n The White House\u2019s Instagram and X accounts have also taken a page out of the typical influencer\u2019s engagement playbook, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt uploading a weekly video segment called \u201cMAGA Minute.\u201d<\/a> The videos post recaps \u2014 in 60 seconds \u2014 of things the president and the administration did that week that the White House wants to highlight. <\/p>\n