Continuing its 4Chanified social media strategy, the White House’s official X account on Tuesday put an appalling twist on the “Jet2 holiday” internet trend.
The trend consists of viral posts in which chaotic video footage is accompanied by an upbeat song and cheerful voiceover, taken from an advertisement for British airline Jet2, which begins: “Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday!”
In the White House’s attempt, the light-hearted audio plays over video clips depicting immigrants being loaded onto a plane for deportation. The immigrants are shown being ushered from vans, walking with shackled hands and feet, holding identification documents, and boarding a plane. Their faces are clearly visible on several occasions, while the faces of all law enforcement agents are blurred out.
It’s the latest example of the White House’s callous digital strategy, which has previously included an ASMR video of shackled immigrants and an AI-generated image of an immigration agent detaining a sobbing woman in the style of Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli. This social media approach, under Trump staffer Kaelan Dorr, seems guided by a commitment to sharing “banger memes” (in its own eyeroll-inducing words) that are just edgy enough to elicit surprise that they’re actually being posted by the White House.
But such posts, from an increasingly unpopular administration whose immigration agenda faces increasing scrutiny for prioritizing deporting noncriminals, gives one the impression that the Trump White House is guided by sadism rather than a desire to better the country—and cares more about catering to right-wing internet trolls than satisfying the American electorate.
In the replies of the “Jet2” meme, for instance, many right-wingers were relishing in the cruelty, while others were put off. “You are not Christians,” wrote one user. Even a self-described supporter of deportation said the meme “is gross” and “feels yuck.”
Others took to counter-trolling, bringing up an inescapable sore subject for the Trump administration: Congressional candidate TJ Adams-Falconer posted a GIF depicting Donald Trump beside notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, with the text, “Fell for it again.” “Nothing beats releasing the files,” wrote another user.
