White House Uses Iconic Children’s Cartoon in Unhinged Post
Jonathan Ernst / REUTERS The White House has hijacked an iconic children’s cartoon in its latest attempt to use pop culture to promote ICE on social media.
The White House account has co-opted everything from Spider-Man to South Park in its to attempt to normalize brutal ICE raids.
On Monday, the Trump administration dived into 90s nostalgia in its latest effort, this one based on animated educational television series The Magic School Bus.
The show aired on PBS from 1994 to 1997, before a Netflix reboot in 2017.
Based on the best-selling book series, The Magic School Bus follows Ms.
Frizzle and her class as they set off in a supernatural vehicle and learn about the world around them.
Comedian and actress Lily Tomlin voiced Frizzle in the original series, while Kate McKinnon voices Frizzle’s younger sister, Fiona, in the Netflix reboot.
Using imagery from the Netflix reboot, the White House’s post renamed the vehicle “The Magic Deportation Bus,” with Ms.
Frizzle and her chameleon, Liz, in the front and five people cuffed in the rear, with the circular windows removed to make them more visible.
The doctored post was linked to a Fox News article , with the headline “ICE quietly arrests jaw dropping number of illegal immigrants in massive D.C. area operation.” The story referred to “Operation Safe Community — Washington, D.C.,” which ICE sources told Fox News saw officers arresting 1,328 immigrants in the first 14 days of August.
The White House’s social media caption read, “Please let this be a normal field trip...” referencing a line the character Arnold said in almost every episode as the bus started on a new journey.
Social media reacted quickly to the White House Trump-ifying the beloved cartoon.
“MAGA ruins everything,” the PatriotTakes account posted.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said, “Take a ride on the Magic School Bus to your home country!” The Daily Beast has contacted Netflix, Scholastic and PBS for comment.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.thedailybeast.com — the content belongs to The Daily Beast.
