President Donald Trump and his team at the White House should be embarrassed, critics say, but they’re probably not.
A week after launching a weird website with MAGA-themed games based on old-fashioned arcade-style videos, Trump’s team has pulled down at least one of the games over copyright infringement issues.
Their “Build the Wall” video was similar to “Tetris” and used blocks for players to build Trump’s wall along the U.S. southern border. It urged users to “hold the line” against a “zombie border siege.”
Tetris quickly responded on Sept. 4 in a post on X confirming it “was not involved in the creation” of the border wall game, adding it takes “copyright infringement very seriously.”
The White House posted the caption above a message from the popular vintage game maker.
“At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them,” the company said in the statement. “To our fans everywhere: we love you, we see you, and we’re grateful to have you in our community.”
NBC News reported the game was still up on Monday, Sept. 7, but was taken down by the next day.
Then on Sept. 8, the White House unveiled another game, this one similar to Nintendo’s “The Legend of Zelda.”
In a post on X, the White House called its version “The Legend of Trump: Make America Great Again.”
Social media exploded with commenters lambasting Trump and his administration, including urging Nintendo to sue them.
“Stop using our tax dollars to make this crap,” one X user said. “@Nintendo please sue these idiots,” another person added.
One of the most controversial games on the site, “Snake,” shows an image of Border Czar Tom Homan leading an increasingly larger line of migrants dressed in orange jumpsuits in a snake-style grid. The video clearly depicts Trump using Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to terrorize, jail and deport immigrant families.
A game called “Rio Run” catches migrants at the border and kicks them out. In another one, the White House has renamed the retro “Flappy Bird” to “Flappy Bill,” where a bald eagle swoops through the capital landmarks.
Trump and his administration have frequently used popular video games and characters from animated series and books in their political messaging, NBC reported.The White House has also used copyrighted songs without permission to promote its policies, often removing the music only after artists demand it.
Just last December, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used the popular children’s book character Franklin the Turtle to seemingly mock his ongoing attacks on what he calls “drug boats” in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.
Hegseth’s image showed Franklin dressed in military gear and firing at tiny boats from a helicopter. It included the captions “Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists” and “A Classic Franklin Story.”
The book’s publisher, Kids Can Press, “strongly condemned” Hegseth’s unauthorized use of the character, writing in a post on X warning against using “any denigrating, violent, or unauthorized use of Franklin’s name or image.”
The publisher emphasized Franklin “stands for kindness, empathy and inclusivity.”
Trump also riled up pop star Sabrina Carpenter when he used one of her songs in a video showing a vicious immigration crackdown by Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents.
The singer responded with a warning, too. “This video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda,” she said in a post on X.
