GameStop has trolled JD Vance after the White House bizarrely tried to insert Donald Trump into video game culture and credit him with ending another war.
The White House’s official X account on Sunday posted a strange AI rendering of the 79-year-old president saluting triumphantly while cosplaying as the main character from the video game Halo.
“Power to the Players,” the White House wrote as it appeared to hail Trump for solving “The Console Wars.” GameStop’s X account had earlier declared an end to the “war” after it was announced that the upcoming Halo game would be available on both Xbox and PlayStation 5 for the first time.
The White House has been trying to label Trump as “The Peace President,” apparently to bolster his quest for the Nobel Peace Prize.
GameStop responded to the White House by posting its own AI-generated image of Trump and Vance as Halo characters—although the vice president may be less than amused with his depiction.
GameStop’s AI rendering features Trump dressed up as Halo’s main character, Master Chief, using his historic mugshot.
Vance, on the other hand, is depicted as Cortana—the female AI from the franchise—with his meme-ified, bloated face superimposed on her body. The White House’s X account quickly reposted the image.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and Vance’s office for comment.
The viral meme of chubby Vance has been used by his detractors around the world. Toby Melville/REUTERS
When reached for comment, a GameStop spokesperson told the Daily Beast, “Video games and s–tposting bringing people together. MGGA,” adding that the acronym stands for “Make gaming great again.”
The viral meme of Vance’s chubby, baby-faced, death-stare visage has dogged the 41-year-old vice president since he became the target of a mass humiliation online campaign in February, although the millennial, who dabbles in meme-posting himself, has previously said he thinks it’s a funny trend.
Earlier on Sunday, GameStop had posted another AI rendering of Trump shaking hands with Master Chief, in response to the White House’s RapidResponse47 X account declaring, “President Trump presides over the end of the 20-year Console Wars.”
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen, an outspoken Trump supporter, reposted the exchange on his own X account, and GameStop stock jumped Monday morning.
However the company told PC Mag that it had not coordinated the X posts with the Trump administration.