The White House is making arcade games racist
The White House has released a series of policy-themed arcade games that critics argue promote racist tropes and infringe on the intellectual property of major gaming companies. Companies like The Tetris Company have distanced themselves from the content, which uses gaming mechanics to mock immigration policies.
Why it matters
It illustrates the intersection of political propaganda, digital culture, and the legal challenges of intellectual property misuse in political campaigning.
The PR masterminds at the White House just released a series of vaguely policy-themed “arcade” games, some of which are racist — and modeled on real games whose copyright holders may not be too happy to be associated with the MAGA agenda.
The Tetris Company has already responded to “Build the Wall,” which is obviously modeled on the famous puzzle game. In the Trump administration’s game, the player has to stack interlocking shapes to stop a “zombie border siege” along the southern border. Aliens — the administration’s preferred term for noncitizens, and the subject of previous grotesque attempts at humor — run across the screen, trying to get to America before the gates are shut.
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