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The video has since been deleted, but the internet never forgets …
Social media campaigns are designed to capture quick attention in an endless feed of content.
Government agencies often try to tap into viral internet trends to connect with a younger audience, and the Trump administration is routinely using social media.
But fast-paced digital culture carries real risks when official channels post without checking the details.
The US Department of Education recently learned that lesson after uploading a short video edit to X.
A viral misstep
Set to a heavy hip-hop track, the clip shared on X featured a line spoken by Winston Churchill in the movie Darkest Hour.
In the movie, actor Gary Oldman says, “You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth,” before the video cuts to clips of President Donald Trump.
The agency captioned the video, “No one does it like us.” But online viewers quickly noticed a glaring historical problem.
The tiger Churchill referenced was Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. By linking the quote to Trump, the department accidentally compared the president to Hitler.
The post has since been removed from the US Department of Education’s X account, meaning it is not possible for the editorial to confirm the information, but as we all know, the internet never forgets.
Online fallout
Social media users immediately called out the blunder. Journalist Benjamin S. Weiss asked on X if the tiger referenced was Nazi Germany, drawing tens of thousands of likes.
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Others mocked the education department for missing basic history. One user noted the irony of an education agency being so illiterate.
Another user posted the viral Tiger Woods edit of the clip.
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An Education Department spokesperson told the Daily Beast that officials deleted the post across all platforms. “The video, based on a trending sound on TikTok, was created and posted by an ED staffer who did not understand the context of the video,” the spokesperson said.
