Gamers dragged the White House after it posted an AI-generated image of President Donald Trump dressed as Halo’s Master Chief.
The picture, which showed Trump in green armor standing before the White House, included a U.S. flag that was missing ten stars. Both political camps laughed at the bizarre post, but Halo fans were especially brutal.
Master Chief is Halo’s iconic protagonist, a genetically enhanced supersoldier fighting to defend humanity from alien threats. Because of that, many players found the comparison to Trump confusing and even offensive.
The White House responds to GameStop's statement
The AI-generated image appeared after GameStop shared a viral post declaring "the official cessation of console wars."
The company joked that the "new era of gaming" had begun, following Microsoft’s announcement that a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved would come to PlayStation 5 in 2026. In a mock-diplomatic tone, GameStop urged "console loyalists" to "cease hostilities, disband militias, and enjoy this new era of gaming."
Shortly afterward, the official White House X account quote-retweeted that post with the Trump-as-Master-Chief image. Its caption, "Power to the Players," echoed GameStop’s long-running slogan. GameStop’s stock price reportedly jumped over 7% after the social media exchange.
Gamers drag both the White House and GameStop
Several users accused the administration of trying too hard to engage online culture. The Halo community wasted no time roasting both GameStop and the White House, clowning on the image’s poor details, such as the missing stars on the American flag.
"Nothing more patriotic than the official white house account posting ai slop with the U.S. flag missing 10 stars 😭😂✌🏽," wrote @spectre0799.
@NakaiCanon said bluntly, "Stay away from Halo, Trump." Another player, @mosuyanagi, took a more personal jab. "When i was 12 i bought a copy of halo 4 from your store but it didnt have disc 2, so when i went back to get a refund i was told that i couldnt get it without disc 2, which you never gave me. f**k you gamestop."
@gurgx3 wrote, "console wars ending not because one came out on top, but because microsoft burned xbox as hard as they could is so funny to me."
Meanwhile, @TheNCSmaster joked, "I promise he’s not gonna save your failing business big dawg." Others focused on the irony of the moment. @ShaunBolen tweeted, "Ya know who LOVES this? The same dumbf*cks who said to 'kEeP pOlitiCs OuT of GAming' for the last 8 years."
Still, the most common response was disbelief. @hayasaka_aryan summed it up perfectly. "Imagine telling people in 2016 that the White House is posting Trump Halo memes with Gamestop."
Even @USA_Polling chimed in, saying, "I can't take how f*cking cringe this admin is anymore dude."
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