The Trump administration is embracing viral pop culture references to advance its political agenda online, a dramatic departure from past White House practices.
The posts, often shared as memes on the social media accounts of agencies from the Pentagon to the Energy Department, have tapped into cultural and political flashpoints, touching on everything from South Park to the controversial American Eagle advertisement featuring actress Sydney Sweeney.
The White House under President Donald Trump has long governed in an irreverent, controversy-courting way, fueled in part by the president’s own freewheeling style, but the use of social media to amplify that message reflects how technology is shaping 21st-century politics.
“If you just contrast it with what the previous administration did, I mean, they were very stale, and what we like to do in our communications and messaging is to be very forward,” said White House communications director Steven Cheung, himself no stranger to posting punchy comments on social media, “to use communications and messaging in a way that relates to people.”
One of the biggest signs of how political communication on social media has changed in the last decade under Trump came when the rapid response X account for the Department of Defense capitalized on the furor over the Sweeney American Eagle campaign.
TRUMP ‘LOVES’ SYDNEY SWEENEY’S JEANS AD AFTER LEARNING SHE’S A REPUBLICAN
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “has great jeans,” the account wrote this week, accompanied by a photo of the secretary in jeans.
The post was in support of Sweeney, who sparked controversy by saying, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,” in the ad. Critics claimed the comments were in support of eugenics, but the Trump administration pushed back against the attacks as an example of overreaction by the Left.
“She’s a registered Republican?” Trump asked reporters after being informed of her party registration.
“Oh, now I love her ad. You’d be surprised at how many people are Republicans,” the president added, before remarking again that he thought her ad was “fantastic.”
Unsurprisingly, the post from the rapid response team received plenty of pushback. “We’re not a serious country anymore,” wrote the Republicans Against Trump account.
But Cheung claimed the posts are not meant to own liberals: “I think it’s to show that, you know, we can have fun with a lot of what we do. And I’ve always said that the big difference this time around, versus like, the first term or another administration, is we’re having fun along with doing the work that we need to do.”
The Department of Energy’s X account joined in on that fun, posting a sassy comment praising coal. “She’s an icon. She’s a legend. And she is the moment,” the account posted on July 31. It prompted some users to ask why the department was posting flamboyantly.
She's an icon
She's a legend
And she is the momentpic.twitter.com/MDkIj71JZf
— U.S. Department of Energy (@ENERGY) July 31, 2025
Not to be outdone, the Department of Homeland Security used a meme of South Park’s depiction of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to recruit more officers this week, after the television show excoriated Trump in its season premiere on July 23.
Even the White House Instagram account entered the fray, using audio from a viral Jet2 promotional video of discounted flights to promote ICE’s deportation of illegal immigrants. The audio has since been removed, but commentators have repeatedly asked some version of “How is this the official White House account?”
“Whether it’s the algorithm or the fact that there’s a declining amount of eyeballs paying attention to X, née Twitter, or it’s just sort of internal personalities within Cabinet and within the administration, it’s becoming clearly apparent that various secretaries, agencies, and departments are trying to one-up each other in the social media game,” said Dennis Lennox, a GOP strategist.
Woodrow Johnston, a GOP strategist based in Las Vegas, is not surprised that these social media accounts are tapping into the online cultural zeitgeist.
“People are just chronically online,” Johnston said. “Really, politics is kind of downstream from culture. Basically, this is just how our culture has been for the last few years. And government office politics is catching up.”
Political communication has taken on a new direction over the past decade, especially after Trump’s second presidential win. Democrats, once reluctant to communicate in Trump’s brash manner, are cursing like sailors now that they are locked out of power in Washington.
Democrats and Republicans alike are contending with a new crop of male podcast hosts, loosely known as the manosphere, who have the power to influence elections up and down the ballot.
Johnston cautioned that “running a really great social media is not a replacement for running a good campaign.”
“I don’t think you’re gonna convince a 60-year-old woman or 60-year-old man to vote for you because of a sassy meme. But you might be able to get some Zoomers to pay attention,” he added.
NOEM CHANGES X PROFILE PHOTO TO HER ‘SOUTH PARK’ PARODY
Similarly, Lennox, the GOP strategist, warned that social media virality isn’t the same as winning races in the 2026 midterm elections.
“Does any of that matter? Does any of that advance policy?” Lennox said of the memes. “Does any of that expand the electoral map heading into a very challenging midterm? Obviously, no. It really doesn’t matter, but hey, you know, it justifies somebody’s job. Just don’t tell [the Department of Government Efficiency].”
