In Saudi Arabia, Trump Touches Glowing Orb and Unleashes Memes
What is the orb and why is it so strange? The internet has a few suggestions.
This past week, we followed Cheeto Jesus on this first Presidential trip abroad. Where did he go? Saudi Arabia and Israel, which should tell you all you need to know about a politician who is despised most places — except for these two countries, it appears.
If only to accentuate the ridiculousness of Trump’s desperate PR tour, he posed with two of the region’s leading autocrats at the opening of the new Global Centre for Combating Extremist Ideology: King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The resulting image is a perfect example of the bizarre, troll-friendly White House that we’re currently enduring. If the role of the art critic is to write critically about art, using all the tools at their disposal, it is also about understanding the environment within which images circulate and germinate. This image isn’t any different.
The responses, as you’d expect, were as hilarious:
seriously though… this "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" reboot is terrible pic.twitter.com/YspKvCm4g4
— Jenna Amatulli (@ohheyjenna) May 22, 2017
what a time to be alive pic.twitter.com/eW1qaBUBTF
— Anthony Oliveira (@meakoopa) May 22, 2017
I PHOTOSHOPPED SARUMAN INTO TRUMP'S ORB PICTURE AND IT'S NOT EVEN WEIRD pic.twitter.com/cVJFGP5NPG
— Shahak Shapira (@ShahakShapira) May 22, 2017
i mean these shots are indistinguishable. pic.twitter.com/UQVuZ1oNDQ
— Anthony Oliveira (@meakoopa) May 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/theshrillest/status/866381012451774464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstorify.com%2Fabcnews%2Finternet-loses%2Fembed%3Fheader%3Dnone%26border%3Dfalse
"Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble." pic.twitter.com/Zp7whnPzCk
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) May 21, 2017
Sisi: "We can get this dumb khawaga to do anything! I'll prove it to you, ya Malik: Tell him touching the orb is any ancient Arab custom." pic.twitter.com/CV3RTW3F3B
— Dan Murphy (@bungdan) May 21, 2017
trump 100% made a wish when he touched the orb pic.twitter.com/S0TlxgxtBY
— mr cant spell good (@KrangTNelson) May 21, 2017
A picture of Hillary touching that orb would have kept Alex Jones in business for years.
— Evan DeSimone (@Smorgasboredom) May 22, 2017
Israel has an Orb, it's just a lot more modest. pic.twitter.com/k7bXOz3w2U
— Levi Fishman (@levifishman) May 22, 2017
https://twitter.com/sadvil/status/866393401801015296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstorify.com%2Fabcnews%2Finternet-loses%2Fembed%3Fheader%3Dnone%26border%3Dfalse
#Trump has a tweet for every occasion & an occasion for every tweet 😂😂😂😂
The Orb pic.twitter.com/NlVUDpwzDr
— Fight For Democracy (@ImpeachTheNazi) May 21, 2017
Does this orb make my fingers look bigger? pic.twitter.com/aDRGIf4upw
— Jeffrey Lieber (@JeffLieber) May 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/peterwsinger/status/866451032284561409
Even the Church of Satan had to make a public statement:
For clarification, this is not a Satanic ritual. pic.twitter.com/CccP39fqN4
— The Church Of Satan (@ChurchofSatan) May 22, 2017
Though to be honest, Saudi Arabia seems like the perfect spot to open a Global Centre for Combatting Extremist Ideology, since that Kingdom does more to export hateful ideologies (including Wahhabism) than any other, so they’re in a position to halt them all. Sadly, we know they won’t (unless doing so will somehow benefit them and hurt Iran).
Possibly related: A sinkhole has opened up near the “Winter White House” (aka Trump’s Mar-o-Lago Resort).
