The White House lawn received a bit of a facelift over the weekend (and no, it wasn’t another historic magnolia tree being removed).
Instead, the Trump administration lined the lawn with yard signs depicting the alleged crimes of migrants who have since been deported. The campaigning was accompanied by this message on X from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt before a press briefing with the administration’s border czar Tom Homan on the first 100 days of the second Donald Trump term.
“Good morning from the White House,” she wrote as video panned more than one hundred placards leading up the driveway to the main entrance.
The official White House account was a bit less oblique about the message being sent.
“We will hunt you down,” the message reads. “You will face justice. You will be deported — and you will never set foot on American soil again. Oh, and your mugshot may just end up on a yard sign at the White House.”
But if there’s an administration that should be careful with mugshots, it’s this one. Last August, Donald Trump became the first president ever to appear in a mugshot after he was elected to the office. His scowling visage turned out to be a gold mine for the Republican nominee’s campaign.
As soon as the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office released the mugshot last August, Trump began to monetize it, putting the historic photo on T-shirts, coffee cups and posters. In the first week alone he raised more than $9 million off the merch.
While Trump has embraced his arrest, which came in connection to the charges he attempted to interfere with 2020 election results in Georgia — a state he barely lost, the whole episode remains fodder for his critics, some of whom seized upon it on social media to divert attention away from the administration’s stunt.
“You forgot Trump’s mugshot,” wrote one.
“Let’s not forget this convicted felon,” added another, including the famous Trump mugshot in her post.
Many were disgusted by the stunt. Saying it’s “truly disgusting” and “equivalent of putting heads on spikes in front of your house in 2025.” Adding, “the Republican party and this administration are truly lost. This is an embarrassment to our country and disgusting all around. Shameful behavior.”
Others took note of the stunt itself, which one X account holder said would make North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un blush.
“Could they get any more tacky?” wrote another.
But to Trump supporters, the photo will always be golden, as iconic as pictures of Albert Einsten sticking his tongue out, Che Guevarra looking solemn in his beret and Marilyn Monroe’s white dress blowing up as she stood over a New York City subway grate.
“One of the most bad ass images every created, unironically,” posted a fan.
