On January 3rd, US President Donald Trump posted a “teaser” of the US border wall with Mexico on his Instagram account.
“The Wall is Coming,” another reference to the “Winter is Coming” tagline, used in HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones.
Users on Twitter and fans of the show, however, discovered one discrepancy with the statement. The 7th season of the show, which aired in 2017 ended with the Great Wall of Westeros being destroyed.
Apparently the person that stole the idea has never actually watched GOT. #NoWallEver pic.twitter.com/CTgOhGuSYM
— Get Off Your Ass and Vote?♈️⚛️ (@haven1406) January 3, 2019
So……. Who's gonna tell him? https://t.co/8gefF96lfX
— Jonathan Capehart (@CapehartJ) January 3, 2019
Anyone gonna explain to him that the premise for the show is that wallls in the end don’t work?
— FranckPG (@_FranckPG) January 3, 2019
Other people called in factual mistakes, with the border “wall” not really being a wall, but a “fence.”
Also, that’s not a wall. It’s a fence.
— Jo Miller (@7295murphy) January 3, 2019
Others called for Donald Trump to actually watch the show and listen to one of its main characters – The King of the North Jon Snow:
The King of the North knows better. pic.twitter.com/Sga9HaSJ5L
— Occam's Razorback (@janeite1900) January 3, 2019
The posting of the meme followed Trump printing out a poster of his previous GoT meme and going into a cabinet meeting on January 2nd with it, while he spoke in front of journalists.
The first meme read “Sanctions are coming” and was an attack on Iran, posted on November 2nd. On November 5th, the US reimposed sanctions targeting Iranian oil exports and the country’s energy sector.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2018
The National Iranian American Council, which has condemned Trump’s plan to scuttle an Obama-era nuclear deal and reimpose all sanctions, sees the president as less of a Stark than a White Walker — “fear-mongering, war-mongering, and championing division at every opportunity.”
Donald Trump is a literal White Walker, fear-mongering, war-mongering, and championing division at every opportunity for political gain. https://t.co/QApo9LX6DA
— NIAC (@NIACouncil) November 2, 2018
On November 3rd, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander in Iran’s elite Al Quds Force and veteran of at least one flame war with Trump, released his own knockoff “Game of Thrones” meme.
Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (#IRGC) #Quds Force Major General Qassem Soleimani responded to #US President Donald Trump’s announcement that ‘sanctions are coming’ with a Game of Thrones-inspired meme of his ownhttps://t.co/336UFrTL8E pic.twitter.com/5uh1qtQPMB
— Tasnim News Agency (@Tasnimnews_EN) November 3, 2018
In a glaring example of what foreign diplomacy has become in 2018, Soleimani wrote on Instagram, as a comment to his meme,
“Come! We are waiting. I can stop you. Quds Force can stop you. You start this war, but we will finish it.”
The meme that appeared to get the most friction was one posted by a Twitter user by the name of @RinaldoZoontjes:
Here is my response to this bullshit. pic.twitter.com/k88AtvBwxf
— Rinaldo Zoontjes ® (@RinaldoZoontjes) November 3, 2018
Threatening that former FBI director, Special Counsel Robert Mueller is coming for the POTUS.
On its part, HBO wasn’t happy with how its IP was used:
How do you say trademark misuse in Dothraki?
— HBO (@HBO) November 2, 2018
The network, in a statement to CNBC also said the following: “We were not aware of this messaging and would prefer our trademark not be misappropriated for political purposes.” However, network spokesman Jeff Cusson said that there would no further steps in terms of legal action.
