From "Grand Theft Auto" to "SpongeBob SquarePants," the White House has turned to memes from pop culture and video games to sell President Trump's war with Iran.
The videos follow a broader trend in the Trump administration's social media strategy, which increasingly uses artificial intelligence, pop culture and at times sarcasm to promote Trump's policy priorities and slam his political opponents.
But those memes, which splice together popular kids' shows or video games with actual footage of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign in Iran, are drawing backlash from lawmakers and experts, who say they go too far in blurring the line between unserious fiction and the realities of war.
"It takes a really complicated and important situation -- armed conflict -- and boils it down to a little cartoon image," Peter Loge, a political scientist at the George Washington University. "By making war like a game or cartoon, that removes the reality of war from people's minds."
The videos, ranging from five to 50 seconds long, began days into the conflict with Iran and have continued as the war approaches the two-week mark. Seven U.S. service members have died from Iranian attacks since military operations began, and the Pentagon estimated about 140 other members have been injured as of Tuesday.
In one video posted Thursday, the White House spliced together clips from the animated "Wii Sports" game theme with videos of the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. At one point, an animated baseball player is shown at bat ahead of actual footage of a strike in Iran as a Wii narrator says "out of the park."
It followed a post on Wednesday showing a former professional bowing player throwing a "strike" at bowling pins labeled "Iranian regime officials," amid cheering crowds. In another video last week, SpongeBob is shown saying, "Want me to do it again?" followed by real videos of the military strikes with the caption, "Will not stop until the objectives are met."
And in another post last week, the lyrics "Kaboom, kablow" from the rap song "Bazooka" play in the background, while another featured the "Grand Theft Auto" video game, with White House communications director Steven Cheung adding the game's iconic cheat code.
The social media posts came as the Trump administration struggled to have consistent messaging on the justification of the Iran war and how long the conflict could last. U.S. military forces have also utilized social media to provide daily updates on the ongoing operations.
Loge, the director of the Project on Ethics in Political Communication at George Washington, compared the approach to professional wrestling, where "the point is the spectacle."
"The sport matters, pro wrestling is hard, people really could get hurt," he said. "But the point isn't the sport, the point is the spectacle. ... What we're seeing out of the White House is the spectacle of war rather than the reality of war."
The posts immediately drew criticism from Democrats, including Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.), a U.S. Air Force veteran, who posted a picture of the dignified transfer of the killed U.S. soldiers, writing, "Dear White House: Instead of juvenile and animated videos, here is a real photograph from a dignified transfer of U.S. soldiers who gave the last full measure of devotion."
"What is your plan to protect our troops and prevent Iran from continuing to hit U.S. bases and facilities?" he added.
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) wrote in a post on the social platform X that "war is not a joke. It is not a game."
"The White House is putting out stuff like this while flag draped coffins come home to broken families," Warnock continued. "Is it too much to ask for the commander-in-chief to just take his most solemn and sacred responsibility seriously? Enough."
The Trump administration's memes are the latest example in more than a century of U.S. presidents using new technology to aid the war effort. Each innovation or new technology has presented new methods for messaging -- from newspapers to television to cellphones to video game consoles.
But the capabilities of social media, combined with the White House's media strategy, is presenting a new "memeification" of foreign policy, explained Nicholas Cull, a historian of the role of mass communication in foreign policy at the University of Southern California.
War, Cull said, "from the point of view of the White House, has been entered into with lots and lots of explanation, lots of emphasis on having considered alternatives."
"And at the highest levels of American politics, it has not been celebrated. ... It's not what you expect the president to do and share," he said, adding it is "ill-fitting" with American history.
The tendency to use trends and "trolling" humor over policy issues is a frequent approach for the Trump White House, which has faced criticism in the past from well-known figures and celebrities when their creative works, songs or identity have been used in political messaging.
Some posts related to Iran attracted similar attention, including from actor Ben Stiller, who slammed the White House for using a clip from the film "Tropic Thunder." The clip was part of a montage of several action film videos and actual strike videos with the caption,"JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY."
"We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine," Stiller wrote in a post on X. "War is not a movie."