Everyone take out your phones: The White House just dropped an AI-generated Time Magazine cover depicting Trump as the king of our nation, a video titled “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight” and another transphobic meme — just for good measure. I wish I were exaggerating, but this is actual content posted on the official social media platforms of the White House, which are supposed to represent the United States and its people.
The digital footprint that an individual, organization or even a country maintains is more significant now than ever. The social media accounts of our public offices have unofficially become our nation’s main tool for government-constituent communication, and each childish post cements a stereotype of American stupidity and toxic patriotism into the global psyche.
As a result of all of Trump’s actions, the United States is no longer perceived with the legitimacy it once was. We can no longer take for granted our position at the top of the world order. As Americans, we are watching our window of tolerance for the actions of our government expand in real time, normalizing nonsensical and hateful behavior. We must not let Trump’s social media rampages distract us from the real harm his actions are causing abroad.
If AI-generated images of Trump dressed as the pope, cartoon deportation memes and doctored photos of Nekima Levy Armstrong are representative of the American people, I must not be an American. President Trump posts every twisted thought that crosses his mind on government social media platforms — from a racist video featuring Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces photoshopped on the bodies of apes to AI-generated images of him dressed in a black toga holding red lightsabers in front of the American flag. These posts resort to meme-ification in order to provoke liberals, emphasizing Trump’s unchecked power. His behavior is doing a disservice to America’s public image and to the American people.
Such tomfoolery prevails under our GOP-dominated government, despite the fact that they have been hardlined image-sticklers in the past. When President Barack Obama appeared in a tan suit during a press conference in 2014, “Tan Suitgate” was born, resulting in outrage and retaliation from the Republican Party. A president wearing a tan suit? How atrocious! They would never tolerate such nonsense!
Apparently conservatives find Trump’s AI-generated propaganda posts to be completely acceptable. While the Republican Party passionately defended our national image in the past, when Trump monopolizes our national social media pages with hateful and unprofessional content, they stand by — even espousing his rhetoric — as he drags our nation further and further into the depths of international disdain. If Republicans have used clothing as a measure of leadership competence, why are Trump’s actions not garnering the same outrage?
President Trump’s recent actions are just as careless as his posts. In just the first 408 days of his presidency, Trump has taken control of Venezuelan oil exports, resulting in skyrocketing infant mortality rates in Cuba. He has threatened to dismantle our trade systems with Canada, imposed illegal tariffs and strained relationships with our NATO allies. Beyond economic policy, he has initiated an already bloody war with Iran, killing 168 people in a strike on a girls’ school.
As a direct result of our president’s erratic behavior, the US is losing the respect and trust of other nations at an alarming rate. President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission described Trump’s tariffs as a “major blow to the world economy,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni referred to Trump’s refusal to cooperate with other countries of NATO as unacceptable and Bolivian president Luis Acre criticized the Trump administration for its “obsessive zeal” which would certainly lead to excessive “pain and death” internationally. Approval rates for President Trump are abysmal internationally. A survey conducted by Pew Research Center revealed that 19 out of 24 major countries surveyed expressed little to no confidence in Donald Trump’s leadership or his direction for the US.
Trump pushes AI slop and incendiary rants domestically to distract us from the havoc he wreaks in the name of our nation. Our reactive outrage is a distraction — instead of understanding the impact of his actions abroad, we spend our time feeding into the resulting media circus. We remain stagnant, unaware of the real consequences of his carelessness.
It is dreadful to think our nation’s image has been reduced to Trump’s internet rampages, but even more dreadful to know the scale of the global impact of his political actions. We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted by these sensationalized spectacles. Instead, we have a responsibility to recognize the pain and destruction that he wants us to overlook.
The only way to regain touch with reality is to remove ourselves from the constant barrage of misinformation and distraction. Seeking outside media can help us understand the extent of his damage. Associated Press and Reuters are two international news platforms that every student should begin to explore. Nexus Uni and PressReader also offer translation services, making international media content accessible to students like ourselves. These platforms deliver timely and factual content from writers around the world, helping us maintain well-rounded perspectives in a time when our media cycle remains dominated by his antics.
As Trump’s craziness dominates our internal news cycles, we’ve become caught up thinking about how Trump is ruining our country, but we don’t stop to think of the ways his actions affect the rest of the world. We may not be able to take the controller out of his hands, but we can avoid the isolationism he is dragging us into.
Olivia Brinkman PO ‘29 was inspired by a satirical article written by a high school friend back when Trump was first elected. While disappointed that government social media pages have only grown more ridiculous since the beginning of 2025, she is grateful for the inspiration nevertheless.