In recent years social media apps have grown in popularity, with this politicians and major political parties have had a growing presence on media platforms, including TikTok, Instagram and Twitter. Many may consider their social media presence to be a beneficial way to spread awareness about current conflicts throughout the nation to a wider audience; however, this content takes away the importance of serious current issues in America.
Originally, the Democratic party’s TikTok and Instagram accounts began with posting campaigning content in the time leading up to the 2024 presidential election; however around late 2024, the accounts’ posts began to follow popular social media trends. On the Democrats’ official TikTok account, various videos have been posted since President Donald Trump’s second presidential term began about his alleged connection to registered sex-offender convicted child sex trafficker and offender Jeffery Epstein. These posts refer to them as close friends and often contain trending audios in the background, downplaying the severity of Trump’s connection to Epstein, because these videos paint the situation in an unserious light.
In October 2025, Trump posted to the social media platform Truth Social with a video made by Artificial Intelligence (AI) depicting him flying a fighter jet and dropping sewage onto thousands of No Kings protesters, people who protest Trump’s actions, and refer to him as a king. Similarly, in February of 2026, Trump posted an AI generated video depicting various politicians as animals in a jungle, most notably former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. The post received backlash from both parties, as many pointed out that it perpetuated negative stereotypes surrounding people of color. This video has since been deleted. On the White House’s official Instagram account, a video was posted entitled Operation Epic Fury, after the military operation in Iran. The video featured several clips of Wii Sports, each of which were followed by clips of bombs being dropped on Iran. In February 2025, on the White House’s official Twitter, a video captioned “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight” depicted immigrants being handcuffed and boarding a plane. This post could seem harmless, however it severely downplays and makes light of the struggles that immigrants have to face while being deported.
While these videos may seem lighthearted, however it is the opposite in reality. When political figures post humorous videos about serious topics, it makes the people watching the videos also view the topics as amusing and does not allow them to see the true severity of the issues. When these accounts are posting immature videos attacking the other political party and politicians, it leads to polarization amongst each side and causes the division between parties to increase rapidly. Furthermore, when these accounts are posting humorous content, there are ongoing serious issues that social media accounts that represent political parties should be addressing. Instead of addressing these issues, political parties and their representatives are posting trends and to popular sounds.
Politicians and political parties’ growing social media presence is directly causing desensitization to important social and political issues in America. Instead of posting the content they currently create, these accounts could begin to post more fact based content. This would prevent the ongoing spread of making important issues seem insignificant.
