Entertainment over policy? White House arcade games ignite backlash

Critics argue that the administration’s arcade games prioritise entertainment over pressing issues like rising costs and foreign conflicts.

In recent months, Trump has faced mounting criticism over the economic toll of the war on Iran and his broader domestic agenda. [Petre Thomas-Imagn/Reuters]

The White House’s unveiling of five arcade-style games on its website, each believed to be promoting a different policy of United States President Donald Trump’s agenda, has ignited backlash, with critics accusing the administration of prioritising entertainment over addressing rising living costs and the ongoing war on Iran.

Announced on Thursday, the games include “Build the Wall” where players run to capture little green figures before they reach a border wall; “Rio Run”, a Snake-style game in which players gather border crossers along a fence; “Supply Line”, in which players reject food items that fail to meet “Make America Healthy Again” standards; “Flappy Bill,” a Flappy Bird-style game in which a bald eagle carries legislation over the National Mall; and “Trump Savings Tycoon”, in which players catch flying cash and gold bars to “fill your kids’ Trump Accounts,” in reference to the administration’s child savings programme.

list 1 of 3 A year into Trump’s boat strike campaign, families search for answers

list 2 of 3 President Donald Trump signs order creating US Space Academy

list 3 of 3 White House construction on $400m ballroom can go on, says US Supreme Court

“Heating oil is near an all-time high but hey you can play Border Czar Tom Homan in a video game,” Senator Matt Lesser wrote on X.

Rights groups have also criticised the administration for the gaming website.

“Makes me sick. They’ve been playing games with people’s lives for years, now they’ve made a video game of what they’re doing,” Amerika Garcia Grewal, co-director of the Frontera Federation in Eagle Pass, Texas, told AFP news agency.

The game designers “have lost touch with what it means to be human and care for others”.

Adriana Jasso, programme coordinator for AMIGOS San Diego Community, who works at the border, said the arcade-style games showed a fundamental “lack of seriousness” from the administration.

“The cruelty, the extremity of the administration … is no longer surprising,” she said.

In recent months, Trump has faced mounting criticism over the economic toll of the war on Iran and his broader domestic agenda.

The conflict has kept the Strait of Hormuz closed for nearly six months, disrupting global supplies of oil and natural gas and fertiliser, and pushing US inflation above the Federal Reserve’s 2-percent target, according to reporting by Texas Public Radio.

Trump has also faced criticism over tariff policies that the Supreme Court partly struck down earlier this year, along with cuts to food assistance programmes and the expiration of Affordable Care Act tax credits, all of which economists say have compounded the squeeze on household budgets.

The White House, meanwhile, appeared unfazed, posting “CAN’T STOP WINNING” on X alongside a link to the games.

批评人士认为，政府的这种“游戏式”做法将娱乐置于成本上升和对外冲突等紧迫问题之上。

近几个月来，特朗普因其对伊朗战争造成的经济损失及其更广泛的国内政策而面临越来越多的批评。[Petre Thomas-Imagn/路透社]

白宫在其网站上推出了五款街机风格的游戏，据信每款游戏都在宣传美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的不同政策议程，此举引发了强烈反弹。批评人士指责本届政府将娱乐置于解决不断上涨的生活成本和持续不断的伊朗战争之上。

周四公布的游戏包括“建墙”，玩家需要在小绿人到达边境墙之前奔跑捕捉它们；“里约快跑”，一款类似贪吃蛇的游戏，玩家需要沿着围栏收集越境者；“补给线”，玩家需要拒绝不符合“让美国再次健康”标准的食品；“飞翔的法案”，一款类似“飞翔的鸟”的游戏，一只秃鹰会带着法案飞过国家广场；以及“特朗普储蓄大亨”，玩家需要捕捉飞来的现金和金条来“为孩子们的特朗普账户充值”，这里指的是特朗普政府的儿童储蓄计划。

列表 1/3：特朗普发起“船难”运动一年后，遇难者家属仍在寻求答案

列表 2/3：唐纳德·特朗普总统签署命令，创建美国太空学院

美国最高法院裁定，白宫耗资4亿美元的宴会厅建设工程可以继续进行（共3项，此为第3项）。

“取暖油价格接近历史最高水平，但是嘿，你可以在电子游戏中扮演边境沙皇汤姆·霍曼，”参议员马特·莱瑟在 X 上写道。

人权组织也批评了政府运营该游戏网站的行为。

“这让我感到恶心。他们多年来一直在拿人们的生命开玩笑，现在他们竟然把自己的所作所为做成了电子游戏，”德克萨斯州鹰关市 Frontera Federation 的联合主任 Amerika Garcia Grewal 告诉法新社。

这些游戏设计师“已经失去了作为人的意义，失去了对他人负责的意识”。

在边境工作的 AMIGOS 圣地亚哥社区项目协调员 Adriana Jasso 表示，这些街机风格的游戏表明政府在根本上“缺乏严肃性”。

“政府的残酷和极端行径……已经不再令人惊讶了，”她说。

近几个月来，特朗普因伊朗战争造成的经济损失及其更广泛的国内政策而面临越来越多的批评。

据德克萨斯公共广播电台报道，这场冲突已导致霍尔木兹海峡关闭近六个月，扰乱了全球石油、天然气和化肥的供应，并推高了美国通胀率，使其超过了美联储 2% 的目标。

特朗普还因其关税政策而受到批评，最高法院今年早些时候部分驳回了这些政策。此外，他还削减了食品援助计划，并终止了《平价医疗法案》的税收抵免。经济学家表示，所有这些都加剧了家庭预算的压力。

与此同时，白宫似乎并未受到影响，在 X 上发布了“胜利永不停歇”的字样，并附上了游戏的链接。