--- title: White House Promotes Trump Agenda in ‘Arcade’ Video Games description: The White House launched a series of arcade-style video games promoting Trump’s immigration and economic policies. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/09/04/white-house-arcade-trump-agenda-immigration/ author: Miranda Jeyaretnam article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-09-04T00:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-09-04T12:32:10.721Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House 'Arcade' Invites Players to 'Build the Wall' and 'Fill a Trump Account' og:description: The White House launched a series of arcade-style video games promoting Trump’s immigration and economic policies. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/09/04/white-house-arcade-trump-agenda-immigration/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt206734e8eca23a60/6a9aad76448ea6ba1e597c7b/arcade.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5712 og:image:height: 3213 og:image:alt: arcade.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House 'Arcade' Invites Players to 'Build the Wall' and 'Fill a Trump Account' twitter:description: The White House launched a series of arcade-style video games promoting Trump’s immigration and economic policies. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt206734e8eca23a60/6a9aad76448ea6ba1e597c7b/arcade.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House 'Arcade' Invites Players to 'Build the Wall' and 'Fill a Trump Account' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Miranda Jeyaretnam](https://time.com/author/miranda-jeyaretnam/)  ## Miranda Jeyaretnam Reporter Sep 4, 2026 12:00 AM UTC  A White House website featuring arcade games is photographed on a computer screen on Sept. 3, 2026. A White House website featuring arcade games is photographed on a computer screen on Sept. 3, 2026.Jon Elswick—AP  by [Miranda Jeyaretnam](https://time.com/author/miranda-jeyaretnam/)  ## Miranda Jeyaretnam Reporter Sep 4, 2026 12:00 AM UTC The White House website on Thursday launched a [series of arcade-style video games](https://www.whitehouse.gov/arcade/) promoting President [Donald Trump’](https://time.com/7280106/trump-interview-100-days-2025/)s agenda. In “Rio Run,” a spin on the decades-old game Snake, players can gather and deport migrants along the Rio Grande. “Build the Wall,” a Tetris-style game, lets players stack sections of a border wall to “protect the border from the coming horde.” In “Trump Savings Tycoon,” players collect cash and gold bars flying through the air to “fill your kids’ Trump Accounts,” referring to the Administration’s [tax-advantaged investment accounts for newborns](https://time.com/article/2026/07/06/trump-accounts-explained-children-investments-what-parents-should-know/). Other games include “Supply Line,” where players sort out school lunch items to “Make America Healthy Again,” and “Flappy Bill,” where players fly a bald eagle carrying legislation over the National Mall in the style of popular mobile game Flappy Bird. “This is an effort to further contrast between a culture of fun and winning and the dark socialist vision Democrats have for America,” a White House official told [Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-classic-arcade-games-maga-makeover-online-launch). TIME has reached out to the White House for comment. Kaelan Dorr, a deputy assistant to the President and head of digital strategy, [referred](https://x.com/Kaelan47/status/2095621002390655140) to the games as “policy you can interact with.” > [](https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2095615734567100766) ## The White House’s digital strategy The video games are the latest effort by the Trump Administration to use the Internet and pop culture to promote its policies. Across its social media accounts, the White House has [posted](https://time.com/7301939/trump-superman-immigrant-white-house-meme-backlash/) AI-generated [content](https://time.com/7303912/trump-obama-jail-tulsi-gabbard-russiagate-hoax-prosecutions-democrats-republicans/) and [political memes](https://time.com/7382839/pokemon-dhs-white-house-trump-social-media-memes-ice/), as well as mocked its critics online. The strategy has [drawn criticism](https://time.com/7338216/trump-white-house-social-media-music-artists-copyright-sabrina-carpenter/), with artists like [Sabrina Carpenter](https://time.com/7027418/sabrina-carpenter-interview-time-100-next/) and [Olivia Rodrigo](https://time.com/6050587/olivia-rodrigo-sour/) condemning the Administration’s use of their music in videos pushing its agenda. The “Arcade” has drawn backlash from rights groups, who argue it gamifies mass deportations and trivializes human suffering. “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](https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/9/4/entertainment-over-policy-white-house-arcade-games-ignite-backlash). Democratic lawmakers argued that the games reflect the White House’s misplaced priorities, especially as the [U.S. war against Iran](https://time.com/article/2026/09/02/us-iran-deadly-strikes-attacks-civilians-sirik-strait-hormuz/) has [driven up](https://time.com/7383060/gas-prices-iran-war-oil/) household inflation and fuel costs for Americans. **Read More:** [_The Price of Happiness: Americans Feel Guilty After Spending on Things That Bring Them Joy_](https://time.com/article/2026/08/26/survey-economy-personal-finance-purchases-usa/) Rep. Ted Lieu of California questioned the White House’s focus on arcade-style games when the national average gasoline price has [risen to around $4.14](https://gasprices.aaa.com/labor-day-on-track-to-set-record-at-the-pump/). “November is coming,” he wrote in a [post](https://x.com/tedlieu/status/2095644330946117985) on X, referring to the [looming midterms. ](https://time.com/article/2026/09/03/stakes-of-2026-midterm-elections/) “Heating oil is near an all-time high, but hey you can play Border Czar Tom Homan in a video game,” Connecticut state senator Matt Lesser [posted](https://x.com/MattLesser/status/2095639994480074990) on X. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/04/white-house-arcade-trump-agenda-immigration/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/04/white-house-arcade-trump-agenda-immigration/"},"headline":"White House 'Arcade' Invites Players to 'Build the Wall' and 'Fill a Trump Account'","datePublished":"2026-09-04T00:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-09-04T12:32:10.721Z","description":"The White House launched a series of arcade-style video games promoting Trump’s immigration and economic policies.","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/04/white-house-arcade-trump-agenda-immigration/","keywords":["White House","News Desk","overnight","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt206734e8eca23a60/6a9aad76448ea6ba1e597c7b/arcade.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Miranda Jeyaretnam","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/miranda-jeyaretnam/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt206734e8eca23a60/6a9aad76448ea6ba1e597c7b/arcade.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"arcade.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Jon Elswick—AP","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":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/04/white-house-arcade-trump-agenda-immigration/","name":"White House 'Arcade' Invites Players to 'Build the Wall' and 'Fill a Trump Account'"}}]}] ```