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On Oct. 19, @hoodg3nius, a prominent member of the NBA Twitter community, had just over 20,000 followers. One week later, that number increased tenfold due to a feud with the United States Department of Homeland Security.

When the @DHSGov account posted a doctored TikTok of Black youth to “threaten” those opposing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they faced criticism for spreading misinformation, including a post from hoodgenius. DHS’s response garnered 14.6 million views, with replies calling the agency’s post “disgusting.”

This moment revealed just how far online political communication has fallen, though it’s nothing new.

The Department of Transportation’s Rapid Response account posted an AI-generated image of Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer as princesses to criticize the “No Kings” protests. Karoline Leavitt made a “Your Mom” joke in response to HuffPost’s inquiry on President Donald Trump’s planned summit with President Vladimir Putin. Most notably, Trump posted an AI-generated video of him dumping feces on protestors.

These posts are unprofessional to the point it seems the Trump administration’s social media managers are intentionally trying to harm their credibility.

While most people want improvements to happen offline, we must end the narrative that wanting more from our government’s online rhetoric is controversial. In today’s digital world, the internet can have many positive effects on communication.

The Trump administration’s online presence has been mocked by many Democrats, but none have done it to the scope of California Governor Gavin Newsom. He’s mocked Trump’s style of speech, sold kneepads with Trump’s signature and has posted an AI-generated video of Vice President JD Vance presenting “The History of Couches,” a reference to a viral hoax claiming Vance had sex with his couch.

Sophia Burke | Digital Design Director

This strategy has effectively raised Newsom’s national profile and provoked high-profile Republicans. But even if ironic, posts from official government accounts shouldn’t aim to troll the opposition. Newsom’s strategy, though meeting the current political moment, still represents the problems with online political communications, contrasting to those even within his own party.

Due to not being an official government account, Democratic National Committee communications attempt to personally reach voters rather than objectively communicate government affairs. Even so, the tone of their posts has infantilized dire political matters.

This is most apparent on the party’s TikTok account. At the onset of the current government shutdown, which on Nov. 5 would become the longest in American history, the account posted “gov shutdown but it’s cats,” an attention-grabbing video using edited photos of kittens. A post to celebrate the “No Kings” protests specifically highlighted people in inflatable frog costumes, the face of the showdown between federal troops and protestors in Oregon.

These videos have been lauded by pundits as a genius strategy to convey the party as approachable and generate sympathy for the cause, but given the gravity of the Trump admin’s actions, these posts are pathetic coming from the opposition party.

They may be endearing to some, but if you showed the cat video to a furloughed government employee who has gone a month without pay, or the frog video to the family of someone targeted by ICE, it’s doubtful they inspire sympathy for Democrats. Rather, they’re disrespectful to the very people the party is fighting for.

No matter how many likes or views these posts receive, the only takeaway should be that our political parties need to take themselves seriously if they want any respect from Americans.

Having an explosive online presence has seemingly become the main objective of many politicians, a trend that can be seen in New York City’s upcoming mayoral election.

With New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s commanding online presence that propelled him to win a heated Democratic primary, social media has been key in his opponents’ strategy to beat him. The way they’ve done so, however, is completely unprofessional and against campaign laws.

Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa has run a very unprofessional campaign of memes, uncanny AI-generated imagery and reaction GIFs. Prior to the first mayoral debate, the hook of his promotional video was asking if he should wear his “iconic red beret.” In a later debate, instead of capitalizing on his opponents agreeing with him at times to appeal to undecided voters, he criticized both for “glazing him.”

The third candidate, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has turned to influencer Zach Sage Fox, known for his content about the war in Gaza, to head his social media strategy. Although most of Fox’s contributions to the campaign have consisted of outdated memes or AI-generated Austin Powers parodies about Cuomo’s feud with former mayor Bill De Blasio, some other content completely violates standard election conduct.

One campaign video features hidden-camera footage of Fox posing as a Mamdani canvasser and misrepresenting his policy platform. This is illegal under the state’s “Fair Campaign Code” and the Federal Election Commission’s “Fraudulent Misrepresentation Doctrine.” Another video, an AI-generated parody of the “Schoolhouse Rock!” song “I’m Just A Bill,” illegally omits an AI disclosure, also using Mamdani’s voice and likeness without consent.

With both Sliwa and Cuomo anchoring their campaigns on unprofessionalism, the Mamdani campaign has taken a vastly different approach. Despite his rise coming from social media, his campaign has been equally offline.

He heavily encourages door-to-door campaigning, relies on television ads and hosts large in-person rallies and recreational events across the city, with much of his direct social media presence being supplemental.

The success of Mamdani’s campaign shows that Americans don’t want to see a hate-filled political environment online, but rather a return to more traditional politics. People are fed up with seeing a political environment online that lacks self-respect, and politicians need to realize that.

Kevin Deegan is a freshman studying journalism. He can be reached at krdeegan@syr.edu

Published on November 3, 2025 at 8:27 pm