Chinese critics of Donald Trump‘s radical tariff campaign continue to ridicule the president and his deputy in cutting AI-generated memes shared widely online.
Accounts across the political spectrum have laid into ‘Chairman Trump’ and ‘the eyeliner man’ as the burgeoning trade war heats up between the two superpowers.
Social media users around the world are using AI to mock the Trump Administration. Although the content is not exclusively being created in China, it has been widely shared on Chinese social media.
One Chinese content creator, who once parodied Xi Jinping in his stand against the ‘shamelessness of the totalitarian ruling class and dictators’, racked up hundreds of thousands of views with a satirical ‘Song of MAGA’ on YouTube.
The song featured AI-generated depictions of Trump, Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio and Elon Musk marching through the streets under red socialist banners, carrying Chairman Mao’s ‘Little Red Book’ in a parody of the administration and its following.
‘Led by Chairman Trump, we shout “MAGA”,’ the lyrics read, before cutting a sobering portrayal of the officials working in blue overalls in a factory – reflecting Trump’s plans to encourage domestic manufacturing in the US through use of strict tariffs.
The video built on meme videos already in circulation across Chinese social media accounts, painting a bleak future for Americans, looking unhealthy and unhappy as they pivot to low wage industrial roles.
Other videos, mirroring content shared on American social media, targeted JD Vance by depicting the vice president in drag and branding him ‘the eyeliner man’.
Chinese critics of Donald Trump’s radical tariff campaign are ridiculing the US president and his deputy in cutting AI-generated memes shared widely online
Chinese accounts have reimagined JD Vance with AI to depict him applying eye makeup
One Chinese content creator, who once parodied Xi Jinping in his stand against the ‘shamelessness of the totalitarian ruling class and dictators’, racked up hundreds of thousands of views with a satirical ‘Song of MAGA’ on YouTube
The song featured AI-generated depictions of Trump, Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio and Elon Musk marching through the streets under red socialist banners, carrying Chairman Mao’s ‘Little Red Book’ in a parody of the administration and its following
One nationalistic Chinese TikToker portrayed Vance in costume and makeup, demanding an apology for his comments about ‘Chinese peasants’.
Netizens across the political spectrum have found common ground in their criticism of Donald Trump’s shock and awe approach to negotiating favourable trade deals.
‘Absurd Words in the Walled Country’, an open critic of ‘the CCP’s authoritarian rule’, accompanied his ‘The Song of MAGA’ video with a serious plea for the United States not to ‘become another China‘.
‘We do not want to see America ruled by a dictator,’ they wrote. ‘We do not want to see America fall into the hands of a few oligarchs.’
‘Since Trump took office, there have been erratic policies, reckless changes, chaotic governance, trade wars with the world, plunging stock markets, rising prices, and serious damage to the economy.
‘The interests of ordinary Americans have been severely harmed. He has alienated allies and supported Russian aggression. All of this pains us deeply…’
One video targeting Vice President JD Vance depicted the Ohio native in drag and branded him ‘the eyeliner man’
Netizens across the political spectrum have found common ground in their criticism of the Trump Administration’s shock and awe approach to negotiating favourable trade deals
Accounts across the political spectrum have laid into ‘Chairman Trump’ as the burgeoning trade war heats up between the two superpowers
Social media users around the world are using AI to mock the Trump Administration. Although the content is not exclusively being created in China, it has been widely shared on Chinese social media
The parodic song was set to the tune of ‘We Walk on the Great Road’, a Chinese patriotic song of the Mao era alluding to the Great Leap Forward – Mao’s push to industrialise China, resulting in mass famine and the deaths of an estimated 30 million people.
‘Forward we go, forward we go,’ the satire reads, showing Americans working on a production line. ‘The power of MAGA will overflow.’
The video was in tune with American memes circulating widely on Twitter/X, Instagram and Reddit.
JD Vance was later depicted in the video in his inflated AI-generated form, with a scruffy beard and mane of curly hair, selling vegetables loose on the pavement.
Others meanwhile packaged copies of Trump’s ‘Art of the Deal’, drawing a thinly veiled comparison to Mao’s widely-distributed book of quotations.
Writing first in English, and then in traditional Chinese, the author of the video was keen to stress their criticism was against the administration and not the wider American people.
‘We love the free and democratic United States,’ they said, adding: ‘We oppose the CCP’s authoritarian rule. We oppose the CCP’s exploitation and oppression of the Chinese people!’
One nationalistic Chinese Weibo user portrayed Vance in costume and makeup, mocking the comments he previously made about ‘Chinese peasants’
One X user tried to double down on the suggestion that Vance actually does wear eyeliner
The Chinese content was in tune with American memes circulating widely on Twitter/X, Instagram and Reddit. US social media users have also branded Vance the ‘eyeliner man’
One user shared a meme depicting Vance with dark eye makeup
One X user hit out at the tariffs, warning Vance that his eye makeup would soon become more costly thanks to America’s tariffs
Chinese accounts have also joined in with the American trend of reimagining JD Vance with AI in makeup or as Chairman Mao.
One video showing ‘Chili Sauce made in China’ featured Vance’s likeness in winged eyeliner read: ‘Peasant brand chili oil made in China, tastes great.’
Vance’s quote – ‘We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture‘ – has drawn fury in China.
The same TikToker jibed: ‘I was so angry when you said that to me that I ate three eggs in one go,’ referring to the soaring price in the United States.
