It’s always hard to watch old politicians appeal to younger generations through social media use, but Donald Trump takes it one step further with his bizarre posts.

Trump is an anomaly when it comes to old politicians on social media due to his sheer amount of posting. It’s not out of the blue for the president to do this, as every president has their own Instagram account to boast their achievements in office.

In 2008 Barack Obama used social media to aid his campaign, and ever since big time politicians have been active posters. But recently, things are changing for the POTUS instagram account, which is handed down to each president.

Trump is known for being a bit of an oversharer when it comes to social media. He has been removed from platforms like Twitter, where he was banned following the insurrection on the tail end of Trump’s first term. Twitter stated that they removed his account to avoid any further incitements of violence.

Even after he was removed from the platform, he just couldn’t stay away. He went on to create his own platform similar to Twitter, called Truth Social. On this site, he has posted countless harmful things about the citizens he is supposed to work for.

Recently, social media moguls like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have allowed Trump to return to their platforms. Trump started posting on X (formerly Twitter) again in August 2023, while Meta allowed him back in January 2023. Meta stated that they wanted people to be able to hear politicians’ voices–good or not–so they know about their policies.

Yes, this is the right thing to do, since censorship is always a questionable choice. However, it seems a little quick to let someone who was able to incite that much violence back on the platform. It also seems a little quick to let that person run for political office again, yet, here we are.

And in possibly the worst timing ever, Trump posted a photo of himself AI generated as the new Pope. This is unprofessional, coming from a politician. It’s even offensive to the Catholic community, which makes up twenty percent of the U.S. population.

It’s not just because he’s Trump, it’s because he is president. This is the person in charge of some of the most dangerous military services in the world and he posted a photo of himself as an AI generated Pope. It’s just jarring to see this frivolous content right next to important content about the progression of our country.

Posts on his page revolve around current events. One post even features a jarring AI-generated video of a reconstructed Gaza with the help of the United States. Oddly enough, the video has a weird ending, with the strip creating a giant, gold statue of Trump. It even features a hotel that says “Trump Gaza.” It is difficult to consider the suggestion of building personally branded hotels, while the conflict persists in Gaza, as anything other than a conflict.

These weird, disrespectful AI-generated images should not be posted from a public figure. It’s tacky, sloppy and does not represent what a professional politician should post.

There is nothing wrong with political figures using social media. Arguably, it would be worse if they didn’t since they would be losing such a large audience on platforms like this. So it should be encouraged to inform the citizens – the people you work for – on what you are doing to make the country better.

It seems like commenters are not a fan of this content.One expressing the post as offensive has over 46 thousand likes, and there are similar ones to it flooding the comment section.

Both posts are up to this day, so it seems like Trump sees nothing wrong with putting these online. And maybe there is nothing wrong with it, but next time you see another bizarre post from Trump, just remember that this guy is running the country.

Marianne Akre can be reached at [email protected]