🕹️“Game Boy” Edition

Mar 12, 2026

Facing the small public-relations challenge of launching another Middle East war with no clear explanation, the Trump administration unveiled a bold communications strategy: turn the war into a video game trailer.

Instead of boring briefings about strategy or objectives, the White House began posting slick social-media videos showing missiles hitting targets, edited together with clips from Call of Duty, Iron Man, SpongeBob SquarePants, Superman, Braveheart, and Gladiator, all set to pounding music and gamer graphics like kill scores.

In one viral clip, explosions appear on screen while SpongeBob cheerfully asks, “Wanna see me do it again?” It’s a helpful reminder that modern warfare, like TikTok, thrives on viral content.

Another video flashes “WASTED”—the message players see when they die in Grand Theft Auto—over footage of trucks and people engulfed in flames. Because honoring the gravity of war means borrowing death animations from a PlayStation.

The campaign has racked up tens of millions of views, proving that if you package geopolitics like a highlight reel, you can make almost anything trend.

Critics—including veterans, communications experts, and at least one confused actor whose movie clips were repurposed—say the videos trivialize a war in which both civilians and U.S. soldiers have already died. They suggested the administration might instead try explaining why the United States went to war.

But that approach would require a clear rationale, and the administration’s messaging has shifted so often that the White House appears to have settled on a simpler strategy: don’t explain the war, just make it look awesome.

Previous administrations tried to persuade the public with speeches and policy arguments. This one appears to believe the best way to sell a bombing campaign is like a Call of Duty kill streak, complete with memes, explosions, and a cartoon sponge cheering in the background.