Donald Trump’s ‘Game of Thrones’ Tweet Opens Meme Floodgates

Everything is seemingly a game to President Donald Trump. So, why not tweet out a Game of Thrones meme with his image regarding a serious foreign policy topic?

On Friday, the White House announced plans to reimpose sanctions on Iran that were halted as a part of the nuclear deal struck under the Obama administration. Early this year, Trump withdrew from that agreement. Later on Friday, the commander-in-chief took to Twitter and posted an image of himself, along with a play on the famous “Winter is coming” Game of Thrones tagline, replacing it with “Sanctions are coming.”

pic.twitter.com/nk2vKvHuaL

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2018

Unsurprisingly, responses quickly rolled in:

HBO released a statement to media outlets: “We were not aware of this messaging and would prefer our trademark not be misappropriated for political purposes.” But the cable network also took to Twitter and responded in a joking way tweeting, “How do you say trademark misuse in Dothraki?”

How do you say trademark misuse in Dothraki?

— HBO (@HBO) November 2, 2018

Author and series creator George R.R. Martin used the occasion to go after the president for stoking fear and implored people to vote:

@realDonaldTrump #Vote pic.twitter.com/IZe7KwQQvk

— George RR Martin (@GRRMspeaking) November 2, 2018

GoT cast member Maisie Williams was having none of it tweeting, “Not today.”

Not today. https://t.co/Jg51mGHPO1

— Maisie Williams (@Maisie_Williams) November 2, 2018

And, of course, some internet creatives could not help themselves, jumping at the chance to make fun of the president:  

pic.twitter.com/1bIah0IyyI

— darth™ (@darth) November 2, 2018

#MuellerIsComing…SOON!!! pic.twitter.com/3YzknmIeZN

— Jon Cooper 🌊 (@joncoopertweets) November 2, 2018

Iranian commander Qassem Suleimani also responded to Trump’s threats of sanctions against Iran with a GOT-inspired meme:

The office of Iran’s Quds force commander Qassem Suleimani has posted this meme in response to Trump’s Game of Thrones-inspired twitter foray. Let’s hope this meme battle doesn’t get any more serious. pic.twitter.com/kEjGGwSBhY

— Saeed Kamali Dehghan (@SaeedKD) November 2, 2018

But perhaps Trump is the one who should be afraid. After all, midterms are coming.