'Made in America': Five of the best anti-Trump trolls

Donald Trump's presidency has given ample material to the world's satirists and cartoonists, but the most powerful man in the world has also come in for some ribbing from some more unlikely sources.

This week, vodka brand Smirnoff released an advertisement with a not-too-small nod towards the current brouhaha erupting over former FBI director James Comey's testimony to the US Senate about Trump's alleged links to Moscow.

"Made in America," the ad says. "But we'd be happy to talk about our ties to Russia under oath."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"Smirnoff has been made in America for more than eight decades," a spokesperson for the vodka brand's bosses Diageo said.

"The recent interest in American-made products created the perfect opportunity to reinforce that fact and the brand's roots in Russia - with a wink and nod to current affairs."

Here are some other occasions that President Trump has been on the end of some unexpected trolling.

Budweiser

This year's Superbowl saw some of the most virulent anti-Trump trolling, with no fewer than five adverts appearing to speak out against the President's immigration policies. Most striking was Budweiser's eulogy to its founder Adolphus Busch, who emigrated from Germany to the US - where he was told, according to the ad, that he's "not wanted here".

Webster-Merriam

When Trump posted a tweet with the word "unprecedented" spelt "unpresidented", the social media team running the Webster-Merriam Twitter account hit upon a new idea and began using the "Word of the Day" feature to troll the President.

When Trump called Senator Marco Rubio a "leightweight chocker", the dictionary mocked him again by trying to define the two misspelt words.

These days, "Trump-trolling tweets immediately go viral", says the Washington Post. That certainly happened with the response to the President's confusing midnight tweet: "Despite the constant negative press covfefe."

Weather Channel

President Trump's decision to remove the US from the Paris climate accord prompted swift retribution from those running the Weather Channel's homepage.

It surrounded its main article on the news with other pieces titled: "Sad Day: Global Reaction to Trump's Decision"; "So, What Happens to Earth Now?"; "Still Don't Care? Proof You Should";"… and More Proof…", and "… and Even More Proof…"

Climate change "is real and backed by science and is happening now", Neil Katz, Weather Channel's senior vice president, told the Washington Post. "We wanted to make that point very clear."

Emmanuel Macron

Trump's meetings with world leaders have provoked widespread discussion, from his holding hands with Prime Minister Theresa May to a rather testy exchange with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But the President looks likely to have the most trouble with his new French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. His tweet in reaction to the Paris accord pull-out was widely believed to be an attack on Trump.

While in a Nato meeting, Macron reportedly squeezed Trump's hand so tightly that their "knuckles turned white", say journalist. The Frenchman then refused to let go even when Trump tried to pull back.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"113707","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]