A social media video meant to make President Donald Trump look like a political tiger instead left the U.S. Department of Education scrambling to distance itself from an awkward post after users spotted a glaring problem with the comparison.
The department’s official X account paired a movie clip of Gary Oldman as former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, warning that “you cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth,” with a montage of Trump footage, then captioned it, “No one does it like us” alongside a tiger emoji.
But the seemingly flattering comparison carried some uncomfortable historical baggage that quickly turned the department’s attempt at praise into an embarrassing self-own.
That’s because Churchill’s “tiger” was the infamous Nazi führer Adolf Hitler.
The department deleted the video after users quickly pointed out that the 2017 film “Darkest Hour” wasn’t simply using a generic metaphor for a dangerous adversary.
In the scene, Churchill is arguing against negotiating with Nazi Germany and specifically warning his advisers about Hitler. The department later said a staffer created and posted the video without understanding the movie clip’s context.
In the movie, Gary Oldman plays Churchill as Britain faces the prospect of defeat during World War II. With Nazi forces sweeping across Europe, Churchill faces pressure to negotiate peace with Hitler rather than continue a seemingly unwinnable fight.
An adviser tells Churchill there is nothing heroic about fighting to the bitter end when they can avoid defeat and argues that Hitler would negotiate reasonably.
Churchill angrily rejects the argument, demanding to know when Britain will learn the lesson of appeasing dictators. He then delivers the line that became the centerpiece of the Education Department’s video: “Good God, giving him mixed privileges before we learn you cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth!”
The department edited out that surrounding context and immediately followed Churchill’s warning with footage of Trump, making it appear that Churchill was describing the president as the “tiger.” A Community Note from the platform later pointed out that the tiger in the scene referred to Hitler.
The mistake quickly drew attention from social media users, including journalist Aaron Rupar, who wrote: “Quite a community note here. Reminder that your taxpayer dollars are paying for these Nazi social media accounts.”
Another commenter made the connection even more explicit: “The tiger to which Churchill is referring is adolf hitler/nazis, so we can all agree Trump is appropriately being compared to them. Also, I assume you’re all f–king idiots & didn’t realize that, which makes it all the better this is coming from the department of education.”
The irony was particularly striking because the post came from the federal agency responsible for education.
“The Department of Education being so profoundly illiterate as to not know what this scene is referring to is just beautifully poetic,” one critic stated.
Others urged the department to recognize the problem before it was too late.
One said, “You still have time to delete this….”
Then came another reaction that underscored how badly the intended message had backfired.
“Wow! The administration really is copying the Nazi playbook. How sad.”
On the “Darkest Hour” clip on YouTube, one viewer asked, “Who is here after what the Department of Education posted?”
An Education Department spokesperson said the video was based on a trending TikTok sound and blamed the misunderstanding on the staffer who created it.
“The video, based on a trending sound on TikTok, was created and posted by an ED staffer who did not understand the context of the video. The Department has removed it from all social media platforms,” the spokesperson said, according to the Daily Beast.
