People are irate after the White House tried to MAGA-ify Jimothy, the beloved Seattle-based raccoon who went viral for having a short spine.
Capitalizing on the viral social media trend, the White House posted an image of Jimothy wearing a red ‘Trump was right about everything’ hat.
“Jimothy spotted on the way to Washington, D.C.,” the caption read.
Within a day, the post had accumulated more than one million views and criticisms that it was “cringe” and the White House was “killing memes.”
One person disputed Jimothy would have voted for President Donald Trump, joking the raccoon was a “Harris voter [for real]” and “maybe uncommitted in the primary.”
But mostly, critics responded with complaints that the White House was using the trending raccoon to promote Trump.
“I swear y’all go out of your way to try to ruin everyone’s fun,” one X user grumbled.
An X user named Evan wrote: “Genuinely the worst propaganda account ever.”
The raccoon named Jimothy has been all over social media, gaining buzz for his uniquely curved back, and stealing the hearts of Seattle locals. In one video posted on Instagram, Jimothy was seen prancing across a lawn before going up concrete steps.
The woman filming the video can be heard saying, “What am I looking at?”
She then said in the post’s caption that she and her partner “were graced with the presence of Jimothy the raccoon with short spine syndrome. Praise Jimothy!!”
The Daily Beast was the first to report on the Jimothy backlash. The White House often uses its social media accounts to post memes or troll Trump’s opponents – a tactic that can resonate with young people and boost morale, even momentarily.
More recently, the White House social media team has engaged with people online by Trump-ifying trending posts. Earlier this month, the White House posted a version of Madison Square Garden’s wedding announcement for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce by replacing the original text with: “TRUMP Is Your President.”
The concept is popular with companies and brands, which are typically doing so to promote a product.
Other Trump administration agencies followed suit on Jimothy. The Office of Personnel Management posted an image of Jimothy “trying to enter public service” and a personal identification badge indicating “Jimothy J. Raccoon” was now working for the government.
The Interior Department press team promptly responded, claiming Jimothy was now a Park Police Officer.
Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management, also chimed in: “We believe in equal employment opportunities – in this case, though, I question the merit-based assessment process.”
Kupor’s tweet referred to Trump’s policy that all hiring in the federal government be “merit-based” after accusing past administration of hiring for diversity, equity and inclusion purposes.