Featured Image Credit: ConcernedApe
Topics: Stardew Valley, Real Life, Indie Games
I never thought I’d be using Donald Trump and Stardew Valley within the same sentence but alas, the time has come.
US president Donald Trump’s official White House Twitter/X account has posted a bizarre image completely ripping off Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone’s Stardew Valley.
In the pixel art image, the in-game POTUS can be seen saying, “We’re bringing back Whole Milk and Making America Healthy Again.”
It's important you remember I’m a video games journalist, not a current affairs expert. I’m also not from the US, so I do try to avoid hearing anything about Trump if I can.
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That being said, it looks as if this pertains to a recent policy where Trump signed a bill vowing to return whole milk to US school lunches.
By all accounts, the Obama Administration had placed limits on higher-fat milk varieties with Trump now having overruled that.
It’s here that I’ll say I’m not a nutritionist either, but whole fat milk is largely considered less healthy as the saturated fat can higher cholesterol amongst other things.
I’m wondering then how the bill makes America healthy again but listen, I really have zero interest in trying to understand the inner workings of Donald Trump.
For us within the video game realm, the concern surrounds what Stardew Valley creator ConcernedApe will do in response to this copyright infringement.
Trump’s team must have assumed using a video game aesthetic would allow him to ‘get down with the kids’.
The problem is that Trump is widely considered to be controversial, and Stardew Valley is a wholesome game that’s always fostered a welcoming, safe community.
I can’t imagine creator Barone is thrilled with Trump stealing the game’s aesthetic for this post.
I’d go as far as guessing that this was generated with AI too which is even more of an affront on Barone’s work.
At the time of writing, Barone is yet to respond to the post.
People online can’t quite believe what they’re seeing.
“Stardew Valley meme from the white house is crazy,” wrote Twitter/X user bigpey.
I can’t really quote anyone else. As you can likely imagine for a Trump post, the comments section is filled with bot comments as well as lewd remarks about other kinds of ‘milk’.
Friday is too sacred of a day to discuss such nonsense. The joy of the weekend is almost upon us.
I certainly hope Barone’s isn’t ruined by this unfortunate and unwelcomed moment in the spotlight.