# Trump’s Social Media Team Craves Your Unwilling Participation in Its Weird Fetish > Source: > Published: 2026-08-09 12:00:36+00:00 Recently, the official White House X account continued its now-familiar pattern of appropriating someone else’s art without permission, posting an [AI-slop remix](https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2081553785302716662) of the *Rick and Morty* title sequence. Using the show’s original audio and an inconsistent approximation of its distinctive animation style, the administration’s version replaced the titular characters with Trump and JD. Also peppered throughout the clip’s 36-second runtime are a bunch of MAGA culture war greatest hits. Diet Coke? Check. Red hat? Check. Chuck Schumer bad? Check. As with most things one can just prompt into existence, it’s very uninspired, inert, and slapdash. And yet, it’s still so pregnant with meaning. These propagandists do not deploy pro-Trump parody to ingratiate themselves with existing pop-culture communities, nor are they stealthily seeding dogma for potential converts. With so few actual jokes, their posts barely qualify as *MAD Magazine*-style satire. In Trump’s AI-infused second term, parody has instead become a culture war salvo that goes well beyond the scope of a typical social media manager searching for a news peg or discourse entry point. MAGA’s intrusion into your moments of respite *is* the product. AI slop posts like the White House social team’s are displays of dominance and acts of revenge. Their recent *Rick and Morty* post crystallized how much this has become a bona fide fetish for them and how central nonconsent is to the pleasure. Your entirely warranted knee-jerk revulsion to them sullying that thing you were enjoying is the final key ingredient. Their post is not truly complete until you offer it. At first blush, one might mistake the MAGA’s mashing of Trump into otherwise neutral bits of pop culture as scale-balancing—mere retribution for a decade spent enduring a supposedly “woke” Hollywood that cast Black or trans performers in familiar roles. But that’s an adjacent and increasingly foggy battle in the online right’s culture war. For all the stink they made over *The Odyssey*’s [casting decisions](https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/maga-melts-down-over-already-sold-out-the-odyssey/), the pearl-clutching and outrage have been a lot harder to sell since the film’s premiere. Though [chronically offline](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/oppenheimer-christopher-nolan-cast-interview-film-1235535418/), Christopher Nolan somehow made a film that would end up rebuffing the core grievances of its most noxious audience members: Elliot Page’s brief appearance proved difficult to attack on the merits, while Lupita Nyong’o’s even shorter turn as Helen further exposed the absurdity of the racist tantrum over a Black actress playing “the most beautiful woman in the world” in a story set around the Mediterranean. Adding insult to injury, the film’s thesis offers a scathing critique of the nostalgia opiate that undergirds so much of MAGA. [Universally beloved](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-odyssey-2026/) and just getting started, Nolan’s *Odyssey* is on track to [easily clear $1 billion](https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2026/07/29/the-odyssey-made-more-in-13-days-than-oppenheimer-did-in-595-days/) and then some, [toppling the “go woke, go broke” maypole](https://slate.com/culture/2026/07/the-odyssey-movie-box-office-christopher-nolan-woke-elliot-page.html) MAGA had been dancing around for years. Life always imitating art, we’re left with a bunch of unsavory audience members struggling to get a handle on reality now that the king, whose grave they’d been dancing on, is undeniably back at full power. It’s telling that Elon Musk, the obvious Antinous in this analogy, has been so bothered by Nolan’s boffo B.O. that he’s spent days online pitching the concept of a more “historically accurate” competing film. Initially replying to a [Twitter post](https://x.com/martianwyrdlord/status/2079640327170728085?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2079756091232227665%7Ctwgr%5E56a5e6cc35b8c7d3a72bd4393b24c270f666e59a%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdeadline.com%2F2026%2F07%2Felon-musk-odyssey-grok-imagine-ai-film-1236999981%2F) that proposed he give Mel Gibson $100 million to direct an interpretation of Homer’s epic (minus the diversity and Fabletics armor) with “I’m down,” Musk quickly pivoted to instead promising a feature-length competitor film before 2027 that would be [generated entirely by Grok](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/22/elon-musk-grok-imagine-historically-accurate-ai-homers-odyssey-christopher-nolan). Musk is no stranger to [talking out of his ass](https://www.jalopnik.com/elon-musk-tesla-self-driving-cars-anniversary-autopilot-1850432357/), and Grok’s anti-woke *Odyssey* iteration will invariably suck for myriad reasons, if it’s even brought to fruition. But it’s the speed at which he landed on outsourcing the task to AI that says everything. For all his faults, Mel Gibson is a well-regarded director. A problematic fave among cinephiles and a seat-filler for the masses, checked out from all the scandals. No matter their politics, anyone who’s seen *Apocalypto* or *The Passion of the Christ* would likely be seated for Gibson’s take on the ancient poem brought to life by the pocket change of the world’s wealthiest man. The proposition, if realized, would be a no-look slam dunk—a legitimate job-creating project with an extremely high likelihood of producing something of artistic value that would make its money back plus profit. But there’s the rub. Elon and his fellow aggrieved rabble aren’t actually interested in making art (or money) here. All they really want to make is *you upset*, and as immediately as possible. AI has provided them the perfect tool for such petulant goals. It doesn’t just neutralize the years of hard work and focus historically required to hone one’s craft into a shape worthy of public consideration. It also lets them bypass all those other time-sucking obstacles, like forging a personal relationship with a desired collaborating director, actor, or artist, and instead just jack their look with a few prompts. In the real world, the star’s unaffordable quote and the odious politics of MAGA would scuttle the project before the pitch. With AI, that initial rejection never has to happen, and their later protests are icing on the cake. Coupled with the reach of federal social media accounts, this unscrupulous use of AI gives MAGA’s sadistic streak a new frontier. As more water-cooler and coffeehouse conversations move online, no innocent discussion is safe from interlopers barging in to delight in everyone else’s displeasure. It’s the *Jackass* ethos of ruining some bystander’s day for the bit, digitized and without any of the ingenuity or wit. The White House post, released mere hours after *Rick and Morty*’s Season 9 finale, had all the subtlety of Chris Pontius leaping from the bushes in a gorilla suit—and the same goal of farming shocked reactions. Like *Breaking Bad*, Rick and Morty became such a cultural phenomenon that it attracted a cohort of insufferable fans whose behavior (personified via [legendary copypasta](https://knowyourmeme.com/sensitive/memes/to-be-fair-you-have-to-have-a-very-high-iq-to-understand-rick-and-morty)) briefly tarnished the show by association. But Dan Harmon, like Vince Gilligan, refused to cater to the worst people in the audience, instead treating the show’s success as permission to develop its world and characters on his own terms. It even became successful enough to launch its own *Better Call Saul-*style spin-off, the Keith David vehicle, *President Curtis.* If you haven’t been keeping up, *Rick and Morty* has been quietly churning out solid-to-great seasons since those headline-grabbing early years, never resting on its laurels, consistently delivering fresh, funny, and often profound episodes for well over a decade. (I’ll stop here, lest I actually do the meme.) With each new adventure aired, that [Szechuan Sauce](https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/10/10/16448816/rick-and-morty-szechuan-sauce-backlash) stain began to fade. Even the cancellation of one of the show’s co-creators, [Justin Roiland](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/09/13/fired-rick-and-morty-co-creator-justin-roiland-used-fame-to-lure-young-fans-report-says/), was handled with a degree of integrity and maturity that might surprise those who’d written off the series as mere edgelord fare. The show quickly severed ties with Roiland, who voices the titular characters. But rather than use a cheap AI shortcut to recreate those voices for the remainder of the show’s [historic 70-episode order](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/rick-morty-scores-massive-70-episode-renewal-1110572/)—a dark path that Roiland’s independent [video game project was criticized for](https://kotaku.com/high-on-life-justin-roiland-ai-art-rick-morty-1849900835)—the show took a refreshingly humanistic route, hiring two unknown actors with dead ringer impressions to take over as the leads. With one post, however, the White House re-poisoned that well, dragging the show back toward the reputation it had spent years escaping. The slop serves as a sobering, deliberate reminder that the CHUDs remain in the audience, hidden among everyone else, still watching—and not getting—*Rick and Morty.* Though the White House social media team has been utilizing AI since the beginning of Trump’s second term, you can pinpoint the genesis of their using it to delight in spoiling others’ fun to a [March 18, 2025 X post](https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1905332049021415862?lang=en) that hijacked the trend of people using OpenAI’s (already plagiarizing and ethically dissonant) [Studio Ghibli filter](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2025/03/27/the-ai-generated-studio-ghibli-trend-explained/) to show a crying woman being deported, drawn in the style of Hayao Miyazaki. Many were [outraged at the perversion](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/08/trump-administration-propaganda/) of such a wholesome filmmaker’s aesthetic for such cruel ends. MAGA eagerly lapped those tears up, and the social accounts started pushing the button that produced them with more regularity. Nourished by the indignation, Trump’s prompt monkeys kept spraying the administration’s social channels with slopaganda, seizing every opportunity to tarnish whatever bit of culture people had dared to enjoy without them. Excited for Grand Theft Auto 6? Sorry, it’s actually [MakeAmericaGreatAgain 47](https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2067649794705625135?lang=en), ‘cause Trump’s the 47th president. Get it? Or perhaps you prefer [Minecraft](https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1999261678039629869?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1999261678039629869%7Ctwgr%5Edb6477b1892d5770630698bbd49c04c25850503b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indy100.com%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump%2Fdonald-trump-minecraft-parody-white-house)? [Harambe](https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2059779450275864710?lang=en)? [Jimothy](https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2080320347329413445/photo/1), the deformed raccoon everyone’s been obsessing over? They are all MAGA now. No reference is too stale, beloved, or nonsensical to avoid conscription. Even Trump’s sons, just as desperate for his approval as the staff, take swings at planting the president’s flag in the discourse. Amidst the controversy surrounding Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle “blue jeans” ad last summer, Don Jr. chimed in with an [AI-generated image of his father](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-jr-sydney-sweeney-ad-ai-parody-b2798881.html) in a revealing denim outfit, posed like Sweeney, with the Zoolander-referencing caption: “That Hanse…. Um, Donald is so hot right now!!!” Bone-chilling stuff. Before generative AI, posts like this from most organizations might have triggered corporate legal pressure—or at least be DMCA’d into oblivion in a matter of minutes. However, the legality of all this AI parody stuff is still years away from being settled. But even if a court eventually found that clips like the *Rick and Morty* video were not fair use and were unlawful for the White House to post, does anyone believe that would stop this administration from continuing with impunity? This administration regularly [uses songs it has no legal right to](https://cbs12.com/news/nation-world/vermont-singer-songwriter-noah-kahan-says-hed-never-approve-white-house-using-his-music-to-support-president-trump-american-cars-michigan-autoworkers-event) for Trump-aggrandizing ends, daring the wronged party to take them to court if the offense is really worth duking out via expensive legal battles, which it rarely is. Why would their approach to other media misappropriation be any different? The social media team continues to operate unabated, fully aware that the social media giants whose TOSs they’re violating wouldn’t dare bite the hand feeding them and that all most of those whose works have been despoiled can do—be they one of the [world’s biggest music artists](https://time.com/7338216/trump-white-house-social-media-music-artists-copyright-sabrina-carpenter/) or an [allied sovereign nation](https://www.asiae.co.kr/en/article/2026061517272004619)—is whimper an impotent “please don’t do that” whenever a violation occurs. This is, after all, a presidency organized around impunity. This is the gang bringing back Manifest Destiny. Might makes right. If something exists in this world, it’s theirs to take. In the real world, that might be a sovereign nation’s [oil](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/27/trump-says-us-has-sold-more-than-13-billion-of-venezuela-oil-.html), [land](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74x4m71pmjo), or [gulf](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/gulf-of-america-day-2025/). In more abstract spaces, where there’s less material gain or personal glory to be had, Trump and the big dogs aren’t as invested in exercising this authority. Their underlings, however, are deputized to apply this ethos as they see fit in their daily routines and broader objective of eulogizing the President. Born too late in history, they missed the Viking longboat of their fantasies, where they would have been free to rape and pillage the spoils of the conquering generals they so faithfully serve. But living in the AI age that affords them deepfake porn and prompt-generated IP theft simulacrums of the real things ain’t all that bad a consolation prize. Kaelan Dorr serves as the Deputy Assistant to the President and his Principal Deputy Communications Director and has clearly taken that mandate to heart. He’s the guy behind so many of those Trump-glazing social posts. Dorr gets off on using his position to upset people so much that he’s changed [his X account’s banner image](https://x.com/Kaelan47) to a mockery of some hypothetical naysayer: “oMg, diD tHe wHiTE hOuSE reALLy PosT tHiS?” Trump himself may still ([mostly](https://www.nytimes.com/video/the-athletic/100000011041502/world-cup-daily-update-president-trump-booed-at-world-cup-final.html)) exist in the reality distortion field that he’s lived in for a lifetime where he’s always winning. And while he relishes adulation, he isn’t pathetically desperate for outside approval and attention in the way the true most powerful man in the world, [Elon Musk](https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/30/tech/elon-musk-desperate-for-attention), is. Despite best efforts by his inner circle to insulate the President from the harsh realities of the outside world with fictitious daily briefing key jangles about how he’s totally winning in Iran and beloved nationwide, the walls are clearly closing in. By serving as Trump’s protective membrane, even “true believer” staffers like Dorr understand that everyone outside the bubble hates them and this [historically unpopular](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/07/16/trump-approval-stuck-30s-post-ipsos-poll-shows/) administration. They all know it. [They don’t care](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/22/trump-iran-war-unpopular-expensive). If anything, coming to terms with the [universal animus](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/most-universally-hated-president-history-100051649.html) against them has only galvanized this administration’s resolve and emboldened more nakedly [corrupt](https://www.americanprogress.org/events/stopping-trumps-crypto-corruption/) and [fascistic](https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/07/trump-administration-unleashes-global-campaign-to-crush-radical-left-terrorism/) action with whatever time’s left at the wheel. While greed and self-preservation may be the engines driving the President and his inner circle, pettiness and spite are often just as motivating factors. And for many of his acolytes who aren’t going to walk away from this with a financial boon, pettiness and spite are seemingly enough. Sure, the ride will eventually end. They may even someday face consequences for their role in all the corruption and crime. But there’s still time on the clock to loot and trash the place, so why not continue to troll away like a masturbating gibbon, desperate for the diminishing dopamine hit of each new release. Fuck everyone else and whatever and whoever comes next. All they know is this feels so good right now. So while people like Dorr and his crew—Reddit-brained losers, forever spiritually outside the party they desperately want in—still have the access, you’d better believe they will continue to barge into and ruin any brief bit of respite you try to take from the daily horrors of contemporary America. You don’t get to close your eyes or tune it out. Bearing witness to the MAGA-fication of beloved media is your humiliation ritual and existential nightmare to suffer for not already being on the team and their revenge for every perceived instance of “woke” forced onto them by those Hollywood sickos. MAGA won. You lost. You WILL be reminded that “Trump is YOUR President,” their go-to mocking reminder, always offered with an implied Nelson Muntz “HA HA” coda. As nice as it would be if there were some magical technology that allowed artists to prevent specific bad actors from ever stealing (or enjoying) their works, AI and its boosters are clearly pushing our world in the opposite direction. The best thing any of us can do for the remainder of this term is soldier on, take copious notes, and bide our time until the day comes when some form of justice ultimately finds our tormentors. You will probably keep asking “[who is this for](https://x.com/uncledoomer/status/2082171330644906160?s=20)” each time they stick a hand into the punch bowl and wait, smirking, for everyone else to recoil. I know I sure did when they dropped a [sloppy riff on Nicole Kidman’s AMC Theater promos](https://gizmodo.com/trump-amc-parody-nicole-kidman-2000794392) while I was writing this piece. The answer to that question is fluid, as the initial provocation is meant for your eyes, but the recoil it produces is the final product enjoyed just by them. These parody posts should be archived, attributed, and remembered, but keep in mind that the people making them also want the ecstatic reaction shot: proof that they reached into someone else’s enjoyment and made it hurt. Denying them that spectacle is not the same as ignoring what they are doing. To paraphrase an internet hero this administration could never understand or co-opt: when the next staining of some pure and cherished piece of culture arrives, online or off, please don’t let them put in the newspaper that you got mad.