Topics: Donald Trump, Instagram, News, Politics, US News, Social Media
The White House has been slammed online after releasing a controversial new 'Gulf of America' image.
On Monday (24 February), the official Instagram account for the White House posted a snap of a lectern placed in front of a US flag between two images of the Gulf of Mexico with the overlay text reading 'Gulf of America', along the red capitalised letter 'VICTORY' stamp.
To really hammer the point, the account captioned the snap: "VICTORY."
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It didn't take long for people to rush to the comments to share their thoughts on the post, with one Instagram user writing: "What is this middle school bullsh*t?"
"God this is stupid!" quipped a second, while a third piped up: "Just admit you’re a meme page it’s okay."
A fourth penned: "Mind u, the rest of the world is laughing at us cus ain’t nobody gonna acknowledge this."
"Not exactly a victory considering everyone else refuses to call it that," agreed a fifth, while a sixth declared: "What a total waste of time."
A seventh slammed: "I can't believe this is not a satire account."
"This is so cringe lmaoooo," echoed another, and a final Instagram user added: "Victory over what? Do they think they have defeated a large body of water?
"What is even happening over there? Lowkey feels like whoever runs this account is trying to troll from inside."
Following Trump confirming the controversial name-change in his presidential inauguration speech last month (20 January), Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo - the President of Mexico - declared that US residents can abide by his name-change all they want, but insisted that Mexicans would not be following suit.
"He says that he will call it the Gulf of America on its continental shelf," she laughed at the initial prospect during a press conference.
"For us it is still the Gulf of Mexico, and for the entire world it is still the Gulf of Mexico."
Pardo added: "Regarding the decrees that President Donald Trump signed yesterday, I would like to say the following: The people of Mexico can be sure that we will always defend our sovereignty and our independence."
And later, using Trump's own logic to refute him, she went on to argue that the US should rename itself 'Mexican American', based on a 17th century map which supports this title for the area.
This isn't the first time one of the White House's official social media accounts has sparked major backlash online. Just last week (18 February), the official Twitter account for the White House posted a 'sickening' 'ASMR' video, which has since gone viral for all the wrong reasons
ASMR, a nonclinical term which stands for' 'Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response', refers to a pleasant, tingling sensation that usually begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine that some people experience when watching and listening to videos with particular sounds.
Popular videos shared across platforms like Instagram and TikTok involve whispering, hair brushing, finger tapping, and chewing.
But the White House's video, which it described in the caption as 'ASMR', has been described as 'cruel', 'evil', and sick'.
The account captioned the clip: "ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight," and it shows immigrants in shackles as they prepare to board a deportation flight from Seattle.
At one point in the video, which is 41 seconds long, a set of handcuffs and chains can be seen jingling as they are pulled from a basket, before being laid out on the airport tarmac next to four other sets of restraints.
Another shot shows a man with his hands cuffed in front of him with his ankles bound by a chain as he walks past an officer.
And a third shot sees a man having his handcuffs linked together before the camera pans to a man’s feet in chains as he walks up a stairway to a plane.
