The White House has returned to meme mode, this time sharing a doctored image of President Donald Trump as Superman just days after MAGA pundits called the new superhero reboot too “woke.”
The surreal post, shared on the official White House X account, shows Trump’s face on the Man of Steel’s body with the caption: “THE SYMBOL OF HOPE. TRUTH. JUSTICE. THE AMERICAN WAY. SUPERMAN TRUMP.”
It didn’t take long for the backlash to follow.
“I never thought I’d see the day when the White House is just a joke. This is so embarrassing,” one user commented.
“I found his kryptonite… the Epstein files,” another joked, making a subtle jab at Trump’s long-rumored links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019.
But not everyone was upset. Actor Dean Cain, who played Superman in the ’90s TV series “Lois & Clark,” responded to the White House’s post with a laughing-crying emoji.
A vocal Trump supporter, Cain also told TMZ, “How woke is Hollywood going to make this character? How much is Disney going to change their Snow White? Why are they going to change these characters [to] exist for the times?”
It’s clear what sparked the meme: MAGA’s latest obsession with the new “Superman” movie, turning it into a culture war battleground.
Director James Gunn, best known for “Guardians of the Galaxy,” added fuel to the fire by calling Superman “the story of America. An immigrant who came from other places and populated the country.”
He’s not the first to say so. In 2019, DC Comics described Superman as “the ultimate example of a refugee who makes his new home better,” noting that the character was created by the sons of Jewish immigrants.
That framing—Superman as an immigrant—was just too much for some conservatives.
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld criticized it on “The Five,” calling it a “terrible analogy,” while Kellyanne Conway complained, “We don’t go to the movie theater to be lectured to.” Ben Shapiro also jumped in with a video titled “Superman is Going WOKE.”
The film, heavily promoted and projected to gross more than $200 million globally, now also serves as a political flashpoint. Trump’s meme may attract conservative moviegoers, but it comes amid his administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown, which has prompted lawsuits and protests nationwide.
Interestingly, the controversy around “Superman” is just the latest flare-up in a broader right-wing crusade against so-called “woke” reboots. Like Disney’s live-action adaptations of “The Little Mermaid” and “Snow White,” which faced backlash and racist tirades for casting women of color as leads, Gunn’s film has become part of the culture war crossfire.
For Trump, this isn’t the first time he’s photoshopped himself into pop culture. In May, the White House posted an AI image of him dressed as the pope, even though Trump isn’t even Catholic.
For a president who’s always viewed himself as larger than life, the “Superman Trump” image might be less about trolling and more about projection. But with a blockbuster film and a major immigration battle happening at the same time, the symbolism feels as unhinged as it is on-brand.