What was supposed to be a flattering White House post about President Donald Trump quickly collapsed into a full-blown internet pile-on, the kind so immediate and merciless it raised the faint, fleeting possibility that Trump’s comms team might one day learn something from it.
The post shows the famous 2023 Trump mug shot taken in Fulton County, Georgia, after he was indicted on racketeering charges for trying to overturn the 2020 election results when he lost to former president Joe Biden. That shot was juxtaposed with a photo of Trump’s 2024 Time Person of the Year cover.
The post, captioned, “MAGA” with a fire emoji and the words, “How it started” above the mug shot and “How it’s going” above the Time cover.
The responses to the post were brutal.
X user JP reposted it with a hilarious caption, “fixed it for yall, slight spelling error.” Instead of “Person of the Year,” the post read “Pedophile of the Year.”
Trump has been embroiled in a scandal over the Epstein files that he just can’t shake. It comes up repeatedly, no matter where he goes, and has been ongoing since he refused to release the files after winning re-election.
He and his vice president, JD Vance, stoked Epstein conspiracy theories on the campaign trail and promised to release the full Justice Department file on Epstein if they were elected. Once back in office though, Trump stonewalled for months until Congress passed a law mandating the release of the files by Dec. 19.
Trump’s DOJ still has not released the files and is facing new court action over the delay.
Poster Wael Khoury used the post to question Trump’s use of the office of the presidency to enrich himself and his family.
In his repost, he used a smiling shot of half of Trump’s face captioned, “How he makes money” with a headline over the photo, “HOW TRUMP USED THE PRESIDENCY TO POCKET $1,408,500,000.”
It’s a clear reference to Trump raising over $1 billion in cryptocurrency last year shortly after retaking office and his ongoing money-making ventures on everything from MAGA merchandise, shoes, perfume, and even Bibles.
X user Alexis *FTD in her repost used a laughing emoji next to the caption, “Dementia maga,” showing a weird photo of Trump looking spaced out at the World Economic Forum he just returned from in Davos, Switzerland.
Another repost by Rach featured a bad image of Trump with an orange and purple face with his fingers in his mouth, captioned, “T.A.C.O.”
It’s a reference that went viral early last year after Trump kept whipsawing his tariff threats on nations across the globe. The post spelled out what TACO stands for. T is “Trump.” A is “Always.“ C is “Chickens,” and O stands for “Out.”
Maybe the best one of them all is a very simple and prescient repost from Wahndo, who said only: “not pictured: how it ends.”
