The Trump administration has a strange obsession with stealing from video games to push its gross agenda. In the latest case of that trend, the official White House website has added an “arcade” section featuring xenophobic knock-offs of classic games such as Tetris, Flappy Bird, and Snake.
“CAN’T STOP WINNING. Build the wall. Deport. Fill a Trump Account. LIVE – PLAY NOW,” an X post from the current U.S. government that sounds like it was written by a fourth grader, reads.
The White House rips off classic games with terrible updates
One of the games, Build the Wall, is a Tetris clone with the unsubtle description “Protect the border from the coming horde.” The in-game text reads, “Zombie Border Siege. Stack Bricks. Hold The Line.” The game is very bad and fails to follow Tetris’ most basic rule: filling a horizontal line should clear the blocks.
Rio Run is a Snake knock-off where you play as a white man arresting people of color who are trying to cross the Rio Grande. In Supply Line, the player removes food on a conveyor belt to “Make America Healthy Again.” The game conveniently ignores how the Robert F. Kennedy-led Health Department has overseen a Cyclospora outbreak that has left thousands sick due to contaminated lettuce. The games seem like they were generated by an AI prompt, like many of the admin’s lazy social media posts.
In promoting Arcade.gov, the White House X account knocks off several game console loading screens, stealing the GameCube, Xbox 360, and PS2 intro animations alongside their audio cues. The “trailer” for the Arcade section literally just uses the Green Hill Zone theme from Sonic the Hedgehog.
These new games and the messaging on X are a continuation of the administration’s strategy to “own the libs” by making juvenile and cruel posts on social media to distract from the Trump presidency’s many failings, like how the president started a needless war with Iran that has led to numerous deaths and destabilized the global economy; or a growing affordability crisis that has left Trump with some of the worst approval ratings in American history; or Trump’s handling of the Epstein files.
Despite the Trump administration repeatedly using Nintendo, Microsoft, and PlayStation IP to spread hateful messaging, the companies have largely been radio-silent on the situation. Even the infamously litigious Nintendo, known for going after emulators and being so protective that it tried to stop charity events from streaming its games, has done little to oppose the government, possibly out of fear of reprisal. Despite this classic case of corporate cowardice, Trump insiders have claimed the president is still considering another round of tariffs that will hit game consoles, driving prices up further.
The administration previously levied tariffs that the Supreme Court eventually struck down, forcing the government to refund affected companies. Consumers arguably paid the tariff twice — once through price markups and a second time because the government payout ultimately came from taxpayers. Meanwhile, the tariffed companies refused to pass the refunds on to consumers.