In these years of administration, Donald Trump has always been at the center of the world spotlight. Wars, tariffs, so on and so forth and… spasmodic use of artificial intelligence to create an aesthetic of the “American Way” to export to the world. You will remember the controversy with Pope Leo XIV, when he posted an image created with the AI in which he portrayed himself as a “doctor” (according to him, because in reality the features were those of Jesus), or when he “recreated” the Gaza Strip, making it Dubai-like.
As highlighted by an article by The Irish Times, the president of the United States published over 2,700 posts on Truth Social only in 2026 (almost 20 per day), and about half of these contain images or videos. By opening X (formerly Twitter) and searching for the profile “The White House”the first visible post, the highlighted one, is a collage of scenes from films, documentaries and anime, used to praise the patriotism that President Trump hopes has been installed in all of his fellow Americans.
On the other side of the world, Japanese quickly noticed Trump’s use of motivational anime scenes. And they didn’t take it very well: just look at the post published by the official page Yu-Gi-Ohfirst manga, then anime, then card game which achieved worldwide success.
Also Narutoone of the best-selling manga in history, fell victim to Donald’s schizophrenic use of artificial intelligence. Surely Trump has neither read the comic nor seen the anime, otherwise he would know that the personality of the ninja from the Leaf village is completely opposite to his. Naruto managed to overcome the adversities that life threw at him by seeking friendship with everyone he met, whether from his village or from another nation.
Not exactly the modus operandi of the president. Masashi KishimotoNaruto’s father, seeing his character transformed into a tool of Trumpian propaganda, would probably have something to say.
This weekend also the White House will host an event of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the UFCthe mixed martial arts league that brings together the best fighters in the world. The post with which the White House account promoted the demonstration a few days ago is this: a pumped-up Uncle Sam, who hits his opponent in the face with 4-ounce gloves. Certainly an image in clear contrast to that of Naruto (he also fights, but he does so simply as a means of achieving total peace between peoples, certainly not as a means of showing off his muscles)
What makes you smile is the paradox of duties: Trump has proposed tariffs on foreign films and audiovisual products, effectively also hitting the Japanese animation industryand then uses those same works to communicate from the White House.
The Anglo-Saxon media have coined a term for this type of communication — because yes, it’s all propaganda and self-aggrandizement: slopagandaor the fusion between slop (low-quality AI content) and propaganda.
