--- title: Donald Trump: Nordic Prime Ministers Troll Orb Photo description: Nordic leaders trolled President Donald Trump's viral orb photo. canonical: https://time.com/4798195/trump-orb-spoof/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-30T18:01:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:04:40.189Z og:title: Five Nordic Leaders Trolled President Trump With a Soccer Ball Orb og:description: That viral photo just got even more global og:url: https://time.com/4798195/trump-orb-spoof/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0dd5a9d1a080463a/6988cf6697cdff73b86b0ecb/gettyimages-686580196-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: US President Trump in Saudi Arabia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Five Nordic Leaders Trolled President Trump With a Soccer Ball Orb twitter:description: That viral photo just got even more global twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0dd5a9d1a080463a/6988cf6697cdff73b86b0ecb/gettyimages-686580196-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Nordic Leaders Trolled President Trump With a Soccer Ball Orb > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=fd686de7-cef6-497e-b5e1-c466e1f07b3e&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump and King Salman Open New Center to Combat Extremism [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump and King Salman Open New Center to Combat Extremism](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EzGN1eBA.m3u8) (1:30)  _Published 2017-05-22. President Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman open a new center in Riyadh dedicated to monitor and combat extremism._ by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman May 30, 2017 6:01 PM UTC by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman May 30, 2017 6:01 PM UTC A week after the Trump touched a [glowing orb](http://time.com/4788054/trump-orb-memes/), people are still having fun with the viral photo from the summit in Riyadh. Trump, along with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, King Salman bin Abdulaziz and First Lady Melania Trump participated in the ceremonial orb touch to “activate” the new Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology’s initiative to [monitor extremist activity](http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/center-combat-extremist-ideology-inaugurated/) online. But the mysterious-looking orb was all the internet needed to joke about how science fiction-esque the whole thing looked. > [](https://twitter.com/cinegirl14/status/866452737445076992) > [](https://twitter.com/Choplogik/status/866397695308554240) Not ones to sit out on the internet’s fun, it appears Prime Minsters from Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland recently reenacted the picture with some athletic equipment. The geopolitical players met to discuss [cooperation among their countries](http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/335591-nordic-leaders-troll-trump-orb-photo), but that didn’t stop them from taking time out for this photo opportunity with a soccer ball. “Nordic prime minister meeting. the orb of world domination loses power and is somewhat less threatening on these latitudes,” Jussi Karlgren joked in a tweet with the picture Monday. The group pretty much nailed the palm placement. > [](https://twitter.com/jussikarlgren/status/869207322689761280) A North Korean parody account also weighed in a with a joke of its own on Tuesday. > [](https://twitter.com/DPRK%5FNews/status/869575499978342400) Will the jokes about the photos last as long as the executive order signing drawings? Only time will tell, so ask an orb. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4798195/trump-orb-spoof/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4798195/trump-orb-spoof/"},"headline":"5 Nordic Leaders Trolled President Trump With a Soccer Ball Orb","datePublished":"2017-05-30T18:01:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:04:40.189Z","description":"Nordic leaders trolled President Donald Trump's viral orb photo.","url":"https://time.com/4798195/trump-orb-spoof/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","viral","White House","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0dd5a9d1a080463a/6988cf6697cdff73b86b0ecb/gettyimages-686580196-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0dd5a9d1a080463a/6988cf6697cdff73b86b0ecb/gettyimages-686580196-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Trump in Saudi Arabia","caption":"US President Trump in Saudi Arabia","creditText":"Anadolu Agency—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4798195/trump-orb-spoof/","name":"5 Nordic Leaders Trolled President Trump With a Soccer Ball Orb"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump and King Salman Open New Center to Combat Extremism","description":"President Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman open a new center in Riyadh dedicated to monitor and combat extremism.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/EzGN1eBA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-05-22T14:08:58.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EzGN1eBA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4798195/trump-orb-spoof/","duration":"PT1M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4798195/trump-orb-spoof/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```