Insiders have shed light on the mood inside the White House after a chaotic start to the week, according to a new report.
This week has already seen the United States impose a blockade of Iranian ports on the Strait of Hormuz after peace talks collapsed, while President Donald Trump shared, and deleted, an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus as his feud with the Pope continues to escalate. Trump also found time to host an impromptu press conference alongside a DoorDash driver. And it’s only Tuesday.
Looking to get a vibe check, Politico’s White House bureau chief Dasha Burns asked administration officials and other insiders to send her a meme that illustrates the current mood of the White House — and their answers were revealing.
One administration official sent Burns a GIF from the British sitcom The IT Crowd, showing protagonist Moss typing at a computer as a fire burns nearby.
Two people close to the White House both sent the beloved meme showing a smiling cartoon dog sitting at a table as the room goes up in flames, with the words, “It’s fine. Everything is fine,” written over top.
A White House ally sent Burns a GIF of President Donald Trump saying, “My personality is going to keep us out of wars.” Meanwhile, a GOP operative close to the White House sent a meme of an exasperated Jesus putting his head in his hand that read: “Time to flood the Earth again.”
One person close to the White House sent Burns the image of Trump with his fist in the air after he was shot during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and wrote that it was “what they’d say if you asked,” referring to the White House.
They followed up with an image of Jonah Hill in War Dogs face-palming with the caption “I guess bro” and wrote that the second image was “how they prob feel inside.”
In a statement to Burns, White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster said, “No one cares about Politico’s collection of anonymously sourced memes.”
“The reality is that the entire Trump Administration stands behind the President who is working hard to lower taxes for working families, defend our borders, and make the world safe. Instead of talking to their so-called anonymous sources, Politico should be talking to real Americans who are benefitting from President Trump’s agenda each day,” they said.
The vibe check comes amid several especially chaotic days for the White House.
Over the weekend, U.S. and Iranian officials traveled to Pakistan for what was hailed as “make-or-break” peace talks amid the ongoing war and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. But less than 24 hours later, both countries parted ways without a solution.
Following the talks, Vice President JD Vance suggested the lack of results came after Tehran failed to convince negotiators that it would not try to develop a nuclear weapon.
He later said that the failure of the talks was “bad news for Iran, much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America.”
Trump later drew criticism for attacking Pope Leo XIV after he spoke out against the war in Iran.
The U.S.-born pontiff said that a “delusion of omnipotence” triggered the war, prompting Trump to call the pope “WEAK” on crime and “terrible” on foreign policy.
The president received an even larger wave of backlash from conservatives and Christians after sharing an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus Christ on his Truth Social platform.
The image showed the president in a white robe and red sash with a glowing outstretched hand placed on the forehead of a man in a hospital bed. He can be seen surrounded by patriotic symbols, including a waving U.S. flag, the Statue of Liberty and an eagle flying above fireworks and fighter jets.
“I did post it and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on during a bizarre, staged delivery of McDonald’s. “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”
Trump blamed “fake news” for comparing the image, which has since deleted, to Jesus and refused to apologize to the pope, who “said things that are wrong.”
His statements came during a press conference alongside a DoorDash delivery person who brought McDonald’s to the White House.
The food delivery occurred just as the U.S. began a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. However, the stunt served as a way for Trump to tout his move to end taxes on tipped wages in 2025.
Trump and the delivery person talked about how the “no tax on tips” policy Trump championed during the 2024 election was helping her before the president took questions from reporters.
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