The Trump administration is facing criticism after the White House shared an altered version of the opening credits for the popular animated cartoon Rick and Morty, instead starring President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
The video depicts Trump and Vance piloting a flying saucer while being pursued by a winged demon. Other surreal scenes include Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer peeling off his face to reveal a robot underneath, space aliens being arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, and appearances by MAGA hats, Diet Coke and other imagery.
The White House captioned this video:
"Hop in... best dimension yet."
You can see the video below.
But the video didn't go over well with social media users, coming as the war in Iran continues to rage, as Americans contend with a nationwide affordability crisis, as the Trump administration continues to violate human rights during its immigration crackdown, and as the chief officials keep pushing back against calls to release the Epstein files, in which Trump is mentioned more than 38,000 times.
The White House was swiftly criticized.
This isn't the first time the White House has used beloved cartoon characters as propaganda pieces.
Several months ago, the White House's social media team attempted to capitalize on a new meme from the game Pokémon Pokopia to promote President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan, prompting almost immediate backlash from fans.
The Pokémon Company International later released a statement distancing itself from the memes, saying that "Our mission is to bring the world together, and that mission is not affiliated with any political viewpoint or agenda.” The company stressed "we were not involved in its [the meme's] creation or distribution, and no permission was granted for the use of our intellectual property."
Earlier this month, Nickelodeon celebrated #SpongeBobDay on X, prompting the White House to join the conversation with an edited image of SpongeBob from the Season 3 episode "One Krabs Trash." The altered image showed SpongeBob wearing the episode's signature soda-drink hat, but with Trump's "MAGA" slogan replacing the original design on the front.
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