Trump Continues To Use Pop Culture Memes Without Permission, This Time With A 3rd Term Easter Egg
from the not-a-game dept
The Trump administration’s penchant for announcing or celebrating its various dumbass policies via pop culture video game memes marches on, it seems. We talked about this sort of thing previously when the administration built an ICE recruitment video to mimic the intro to the Pokémon cartoon show (gotta catch ’em all… get it?), as well as ICE recruiting memes utilizing imagery from the Halo series of games (aliens… get it?). Despite the blatant and obvious use of imagery and IP from both games, both Nintendo and Microsoft were remarkably silent about it all. What’s wrong, guys? Fascist got your tongue?
But because they couldn’t be bothered to lift a finger over what is a pretty clear infringement of their trademarks and/or copyright, the administration was emboldened and has done it again. This time it’s in service of announcing something more tame, the reintroduction of whole milk into schools. And the administration did so by mocking up an image from beloved farming sim Stardew Valley.
So, here we have an undoubtedly AI mock-up of an image from Stardew Valley, a game I personally adore, with Trump inserted to celebrate this minor thing that RFK Jr.’s crew championed out of Congress. Is whole milk in schools some horrible thing? Look, I only have so much anger to spare, folks, and I’m not killing the budget by spending it on this. But I do have to wonder if developer Concerned Ape will do what Nintendo and Microsoft did not and voice some flavor of objection to the use of its IP by an administration busy doing the fascism elsewhere. While IP enforcement isn’t generally my kink, I sure as shit wouldn’t want my IP associated with Trump. On that, we’ll have to wait and see just how concerned the ape can get, I suppose.
But there’s also a nice little shitpost easter egg buried in that image. Take a look at the money counter in the upper right corner of the image.
Trump was the 45th President, claims he won the 2020 election and should have been the 46th President, he is the 47th President, and he’s flirted with the idea that he shouldn’t be bound by silly bullshit like our Constitution and should be allowed another term and become the 48th President. 45464748… get it?
I do, and it’s frightening rhetoric that is designed to do one of two things. The more innocuous option is that Trump and his cadre of imps enjoys upsetting more than half of the American population by scaring them into thinking he’s going to upend our rule of law and stay in office. It’s cruel. It’s designed purely to cause emotional reactions and “lib tears.” It’s on brand.
Or it’s a somewhat subtle nod that he’s not fucking around about that at all and intends to stay in power (again) despite how our system is legally designed to work.
Trump is the 45th and 47th president of the United States, and has held onto the debunked claims that he won the presidency against Joe Biden in 2020. He has also publicly said he’s open to a third term, which would be in violation of the 22nd amendment, but Trump doesn’t seem to think the law applies to him. Steve Bannon, the ex-chief-strategist of the Trump administration, has also said that Trump will have a third term, while also reportedly planning to run himself. So these numbers seem to be a thinly veiled threat that Trump wants to be president again in 2028.
These people aren’t funny, but they are dangerous. Even if this wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, there is no choice but to do so.
Meanwhile, we’ll see if Concerned Ape acts against the use of its IP, as I think it probably should.
Filed Under: donald trump, presidential trolling, stardew valley, term limits, troll, whole milk
Companies: concerned ape
Comments on “Trump Continues To Use Pop Culture Memes Without Permission, This Time With A 3rd Term Easter Egg”
Hey, Greenland, All you’re base are belong to us!!
When It finally Happens¹, I hope that seconds before the lights go out, he realizes how many people are going to celebrate and how loudly they’re going to do it.
[1] — Naturally, lest anyone think I’m actually calling for something that would absolutely be against the law to both call for and perform.
Re: Mountains of hate for an adoration junky
For someone like him the thought of countless people worldwide celebrating his last breath because of how much they loathe him as a person would almost certainly be more painful than anything he has or even could experience in his life, so while I doubt his ego would allow him to hold and comprehend that thought I would wish that he came to that realization well before his last moments.
Re:
Better not celebrate it, but instead say “OK, done. Can we work now ?” It does not deserved more emotion than this.
Re: Re:
Nope. Sorry. I’m gonna celebrate the shit out of that particular It™ happening. I have already reserved all my hater energy for that particular moment, to the point where my only life goal is—and I mean this literally and sincerely—to outlive that motherfucker. Even if I only manage it by a single day, I will live long enough to see him dead.
Re:
It’s already been called “the world’s most anticipated obituary”.
But I have no doubt that, even on his deathbed, Trump (and/or his handlers) will avoid any contact with reality, and he’ll be surrounded by nothing but fawning adoration.
Keep in mind that Concerned Ape is basically one guy, Eric Barone, from Seattle. And he’s probably scared sh*tless that any attempt to raise objection to Orange Felon’s IP appropriation would result in his being targeted by unhinged MAGA supporters, maybe even threatening his life.
If Barone has or knows any good lawyers, he might file something in court, which is a lot more impersonal, but even that wouldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t start needing bodyguards.
Re:
There’s also a pretty good case to be made that this is fair use. It’s non-commercial and transformative, arguably a style-parody, using a only small amount of the work (none of it being the “game” part), with probably no effect on the value or market.
I’ll laugh if it ends up being copyright law that brings down Trump, but I can’t be on the side of copyright maximalism even here. Even if it would rid the Internet of stupid image macros (and do you seriously think the likes of Disney wouldn’t have done it already, if they thought they could?).
Re: Re:
I’m also on the side of fair use for the other two occurrences that were mentioned in the article. The Halo one in particular is no different to how so many memes are made and if that was a copyright violation then so is pretty much every meme format.
Re:
What? He definitely has staff now.
Re:
It seems like there are enough lawyers mocking Trump on Bluesky that someone might be willing to do a pro bono cease and desist for Concerned Ape.
Re: Re:
Well I’m sure Trump wouldn’t ignore one of those.
Re: Re: Re:
Might set the stage for a lawsuit when the government switches hands though.
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….the entire point of memes is “using them without permission.” It’s why there are communist cat memes “OUR memes!”, etc.
But of course you don’t know how memes work. The left can’t meme.
JFC, you were literally the meme here, dude.
Re:
If the left can’t meme, the right can’t communicate well outside of memes. I mean, do y’all think the whole “he’s only going after the really bad people” thing is still working outside of your “let’s share white supremacy memes for the lulz” circles?
Re: Re:
Nah, they just redefined meme for the 50th time to mean whatever the fuck it is they do.
Re:
Right wing memes are just shorthand for non-jokes that punch down and aren’t funny. All the “humor” is “I hate those people” or “those people are dumb or poor or different lol.”
And it “works” for right wingers because they don’t care about meaning or context or humor. They just want to dump on people in the out group.
Explain the meme presented here. What’s funny? What’s even true? Whole milk never went away. It also won’t make America healthy, in addition to the loss of all the vaccines and funding for cancer research and funding for health care that will (and has) contribute to the deaths of millions of people.
Dead kids are funny? “Lol,” I guess?
'A dictator on day one' was supposedly a 'joke' too as I recall
Or it’s a somewhat subtle nod that he’s not fucking around about that at all and intends to stay in power (again) despite how our system is legally designed to work.
If someone points a gun at your face and ‘jokes’ that it might be loaded and their finger sure is twitchy whether you think they’re actually joking or not you should still take it as a serious threat, even more so if they’ve ‘joked’ about it before and there’s a pile of bodies currently bleeding out on the floor around you.
Re:
whether you think they’re actually joking or not you should still take it as a serious threat
What about if they are driving a multi-ton vehicle at you?
Re: Re:
Did I intentionally step in front of it and pull a gun before they even turned the wheel away from me much less tried to avoid me when moving forwards in order to create an excuse to murder them?
Asking for a fascist.
(When we say you’re spewing right wing propaganda, this is what we’re talking about.)
Re: Re: Re:
“Did I intentionally step in front of it”
The first or second time?
I believe both times were intentional as the car was not moving.
“pile of bodies currently bleeding out on the floor around you.”
Sounds like you did nothing to get out of the way
Re: Re: Re:2
But a driver was currently operating it, meaning he shouldn’t have been walking in the street, much less getting in front of the vehicle. And if she was obstructing the street, then he was also since he was further in the middle of the street than her vehicle. I guess that’s cause for him to get shot by LEOs because apparently blocking traffic justifies extrajudicial execution.
Except the federal government has actually sent agents directly for citizens and legal residents and has intentionally used deadly weapons against them. Renee Good was not a threat. Ross and all the other thugs definitely are.
Re: Re: Re:3 If
she had obeyed the law, she would still be here.
Re: Re: Re:4
Ah, the non-American expert on American laws. Your JD from Gut Feeling University doesn’t actually provide you with valid legal expertise here. With no due respect, fuck all the way off.
The notion that Bannon both has anything to say on the topic and thinks he would ever have a chance at the White House is fucking hilarious. I’m pretty sure even conservatives find him creepy and we already have one stank ass old man staining the cushions in the Oval daily.
Conquered by idiots
Presidencies are not counted that way. If Trump somehow stays in office he will continue to be the 47th president, he won’t become the 48th. This Easter egg was placed by a moron.
Re:
Well, you’re not wrong.
And
When can we POP his bubble?
“Trump was the 45th President, claims he won the 2020 election and should have been the 46th President”
This is not correct. If he had won the 2020 election and served two terms he still would’ve been counted only as the 45th President.
Re: What do you think oof
A person that can get you 1500% for going to the Hospital?
The reason why Nintendo and Microsoft don’t want to take action is likely because they’re worried about retaliation. There are many levers that the Trump empire could try to pull in order to make things very hard for a company.
In the case of Nintendo, there’s a significant risk of reputational harm and becoming associated with politics. “Mario just threw a blue shell at law-abiding Americans!”
And in the case of Microsoft, they’re a much bigger company who has enormous contracts with the US government that they don’t want to risk.
No company wants what happened to Disney to happen to them.
Re: If they're not fighting back they accept the use
That’s fair, I mean it’s not like either company has massive amounts of money they could use to defend themselves in court and/or weather out any consequences for standing up to brutal regime using their own characters for hype and therefore tying those properties/characters to what the regime is doing…
Re: Re: Don
Also in the case of Nintendo, it’s not just reputational harm and the risk to employees on green cards or work visas – the Trump regime could destroy the entire company by means of a much more dangerous weapon: OFAC.
Ever wonder what it’s like to be sanctioned? No one who’s subject to the (very extensive) jurisdiction of the US would be able to do any business with a sanctioned party, under threat of extreme criminal and civil penalties.
https://courthousenews.com/cut-off-by-their-banks-and-even-iced-out-by-alexa-sanctioned-icc-staffers-remain-resolute/
Imagine that happening to Nintendo – they’d lose access to the Western financial system and their bank accounts, as well as any services subject to US jurisdiction: websites, online game servers, the eShop, and more would all stop working instantly, and the company would lose its internal email (if its provider is subject to US jurisdiction) and other services. Manufacturing partners may also refuse to do business with the company.
If this happened it could also spark a diplomatic row between the US and Japan.
No, Trump is not the 45th and 47th President. He is the 45th President and has served the 45th and 47th terms. There is a difference.
Reactionary
The Techdirt I once knew wouldn’t be calling for the abuse of copyright law even if it’s against awful politicians
We’re suddenly cool with companies abusing their IP law to punish meme makers when they’re people we find distasteful?
Get real. Nobody has ever needed “permission” to post a meme. if you wanna create the precedent that they do you don’t get to cry when they use it against you next.