Donald Trump’s chief meme-maker has left the role just as the White House’s attempt to launch a TikTok account blew up in its face, and Democrats found their internet attack dog.
Billy McLaughlin, who joined the White House as Director of Digital Content following Trump’s inauguration in January, announced his departure from the role in an op-ed for Fox News.
While it’s unclear when exactly he left the role—his LinkedIn lists him as being in the role until July—many were quick to point out that the White House had just tried to launch a new TikTok account the previous day, only to receive a substantial amount of criticism and trolling from users in response.
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Progessive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen posted a collage of screenshots of comments left on the White House’s TikTok videos alongside a screenshot of McLaughlin’s X post, writing, “Wow. It looks like the White House just booted their “director of digital content” after they launched a TikTok page that got flooded with thousands of comments calling for Trump to release the Epstein files.”
In his article for Fox News, McLaughlin wrote that, “Serving as director of digital content for President Donald Trump was the most meaningful and intense chapter of my professional life.
“From the moment we rebooted the administration’s online presence on Inauguration Day, the mission was clear: speak in a voice that resonated with real Americans and make sure our MAGA message could not be ignored.”
It is only in the last couple of weeks that Democrats have found away to fire back in meme world. California Governor Gavin Newsom has published a raft of high-profile memes and social posts slamming White House policies.
Newsom’s office account went on a Trump-style rampage, calling out “woke” Tomi Lahren, labelling Kristi Noem as “Commander Cosplay,” and posting parody memes of Kid Rock and JD Vance.
The Trump administration’s use of memes to promote and celebrate controversial policies like the establishment of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ and the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants drew significant criticism, particularly from Democrats, who called one AI-generated image of an ICE officer arresting a crying woman offensive and disrespectful.
As McLaughlin describes in his farewell piece, “This was not entertainment for entertainment’s sake. Our meme-heavy, content-first strategy was aligned with the president’s priorities. Digital was not a sideshow. It was a frontline tool for shaping narratives, building momentum, and applying pressure.”
Until this week, the Trump administration focused its social media efforts on other platforms, but it launched a new account on TikTok on Tuesday despite Trump previously calling the app a threat to national security.
TikTok users were quick to highlight the hypocrisy, with one comment on the account’s first video reading, “I thought TikTok was a national security threat? At least that’s what Trump said in in August 6, 2020, executive order to ban it. Now they have an official White House account. This just proves it was never about security. They just want to control it.”
In addition, many of the account’s videos have been flooded with comments about the Epstein files. One comment that consists of an AI-generated image of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein in drag has received over 32,000 likes, while another depicting Trump and Epstein as the couple caught up in the Coldplay kiss cam scandal has received over 24,000.
“I’m shocked they don’t have comments disabled,” one person joked.
