Trump administration trolls former White House officials on LinkedIn
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Screenshot: LinkedIn/The White House
The official White House "company" page on LinkedIn received a brand refresh this week, replacing the traditional White House logo with a photo of President Trump.
Why it matters: It's another example of the Trump administration's social media trolling tactics, and it has resulted in his image showing up on former President Obama's LinkedIn page.
Between the lines: By changing the page, it now gives the appearance that those who have listed their previous work experience at the White House have served for Trump — even if they worked in previous administrations, as in Obama's case.
- It also gets people talking.
The intrigue: Several former White House officials told Axios they quickly changed their affiliation from White House to the Executive Office of the President (EOP), which still has the official seal and logo.
- Step-by-step instructions explaining how to remove Trump's picture or change the company affiliation to EOP were shared across White House alumni group texts, one source told Axios.
- "If they spent half the time they spend trolling on lowering costs for Americans, they'd be onto something," a former senior Biden official told Axios.
- Chris Lu, former U.S. ambassador to the UN for Management and Reform, wrote on LinkedIn: "The White House has replaced the government seal with Trump's face in its LinkedIn profile. If you worked at the White House under a Democratic president or even another Republican president — and don't want Trump's face in your LinkedIn bio — just use Executive Office of the President instead."
What they're saying: White House communications director Steven Cheung confirmed on X that the move was meant to troll former administration officials.
- A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment on whether the EOP page would be changed too.
- A spokesperson for LinkedIn said the move does not violate any of the platform's policies.
The big picture: This minor shift is another example of Trump binding his personal brand with the brand of the government office.
- Plus, this micro-marketing move shows the Trump team understands how LinkedIn works, said Adam Rosenberg, a communications and political consultant.
- The small change not only trolls political opponents but also boosts the page's SEO on LinkedIn, he added.
- "People act like this team has no comms playbook and they actually do. They're incredibly digitally savvy to think of this first," Rosenberg said. "It's also clearly meant to bait Democrats into using the 'he thinks he's a King' argument in media."
Go deeper: Newsom mocks Trump's social media in a flurry of redistricting posts
