Friday’s White House video began with a short clip from the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It quickly cut to footage of the US military bombing an Iranian vehicle.
“Wasted” soon appeared on the screen, the same Image that flashes in-game when a player dies.
“L1, R1, SQUARE, R1, LEFT, R2, R1, LEFT, SQUARE, DOWN, L1, L1,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung tweeted while posting the Grand Theft Auto cheat code to unlock unlimited ammo for the user-controlled player.
There have been more in recent days: a video titled “STRIKE,” featuring clips of bowling and bombings, another connecting baseball bombs to the real variety, and a post juxtaposing military attacks with Nintendo Wii games.
These are just a few of the many videos the White House has posted online in the early days of the war with Iran, offering a window into the Trump administration’s social media strategy to build support for what President Donald Trump has described as “major combat operations” and a “short-term excursion.”
So far, the White House has posted about a dozen such videos on social media platforms in an effort to promote its effort and draw attention to its military strikes in Iran, hoping to sell an unpopular conflict.
The montages compared the real war to a variety of pop culture images, including violent video games, movies like “Tropic Thunder” and “Braveheart,” and even the cartoon “SpongeBob SquarePants.” On Friday afternoon, the White House focused on sports, promoting a video showing MLB stars hitting home runs with every swing of the bat, being greeted with images of explosions on the battlefield, while recording a second video comparing missile strikes to loud hits on the football field.
Those clips have come under scrutiny for comparing real war to violence in fictional universes or sports, and critics say they show the lack of seriousness the White House is paying for a war in which Iranian civilians and American troops are being killed and maimed. Two former senior US military officers expressed outrage and disgust to NBC News over the posts.
“It’s absolutely disrespectful to everyone involved, including the Iranians themselves who are at war, and disrespectful to the Americans who risked their lives,” one of the former senior military officers said, adding that whoever is creating the videos “thinks this is all a joke.”
Trump has said the war is nearing its conclusion while saying he will not reach a deal to end it without Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and has privately shown interest in sending ground troops to the country. The price of oil has seen dramatic fluctuations amid escalating attacks and with Iran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a key point in the global energy supply chain.
So far, hundreds of people have been killed in Iran and across the Middle East since the United States and Israel launched joint attacks on Tehran late last month. Seven U.S. service members have been killed and approximately 140 soldiers have been injured, nine of whom have suffered serious injuries.
“It’s fucking bullshit,” the former senior military officer continued. “No one thinks this is a good idea.”
The videos mark the latest chapter in the Trump administration’s renewed approach to social media in the president’s second term, shifting its tone to capitalize on trending memes and tie them to the president’s political goals. They have sparked controversy on multiple occasions, even as the administration’s official accounts echoed terminology used by far-right extremists.
The most recent videos have also drawn criticism from those whose images were included in the montages.
“Hello White House, please remove the Tropic Thunder clip,” tweeted actor and director Ben Stiller, star of the 2008 film, in response to one of the videos. “We never gave them permission and we have no interest in being part of their propaganda machine. War is not a movie.”
The White House called the effort a success, noting how much attention the videos have brought to the administration’s early battlefield victories.
“This is another example of our traditional and non-traditional media strategy, which has proven very successful,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “In recent days, White House videos have generated more than 2 billion impressions. People are talking about the tremendous success of the war and the American military’s annihilation of Iranian terrorists, and that is exactly the point.”
Memeified videos aren’t the only element of the White House’s social media strategy. The White House has also amplified more traditional government communications. On Wednesday, the White House released separate clips of Trump and US CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper speaking about the conflict. The White House also tweeted a “mission update” highlighting the number of Iranian targets, including ships, destroyed.
