WASHINGTON, DC — Three fully functional arcade cabinets appeared at the DC War Memorial this morning in the latest installment of anti-Trump protest art in the nation’s capital. Visitors are invited to play “Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell,” also accessible online, which lambasts President Trump’s erratic and flippant public messaging as the United States and Israel’s prolonged war on Iran continues with no end in sight.
The anonymous artist collective Secret Handshake, which was behind other protest works near the National Mall, including a golden toilet lambasting Trump’s gaudy White House renovations and a 10-foot-tall birthday card for Jeffrey Epstein, has claimed responsibility for the new installation.
“It’s a direct response to the way the administration is using memes and hype reels — specifically of video games — to make the war seem cool, fun, or almost cartoonish,” a representative for Secret Handshake told Hyperallergic via email.
Since the US and Israel first launched strikes on Iran in February, the Trump administration has posted montages of clips from movies like Gladiator and video games such as Call of Duty on its social media channels, treating the massive scale of death and suffering with the seriousness of a frat party.
The game begins with “another big beautiful day as the best President ever” as Trump navigates ongoing disagreement with the Pope, his campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in federal agencies, and spreading misinformation about the US’s deadly attack on an Iranian school.
Players live as Trump, who moves around the White House navigating personal interactions with “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Vice President JD Vance, with whom he talks about couches. Just don’t try to hold hands with Melania or the game automatically ends.
A plaque next to the games describes the satiric game as “a high-octane, flag-waving, boots-on-the-ground simulator where freedom isn’t debated, it’s deployed,” satirizing the Trump administration’s bellicose rhetoric.
On the morning of May 11, two security guards stood alongside the installation, as they did for the golden toilet on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
The choice to place the games at the DC War Memorial was deliberate, Secret Handshake explained. The arcade set includes electronic elements that are vulnerable to water and wind, and the white marble peristyle temple is one of the few covered places along the National Mall.
But the War Memorial, which commemorates District of Columbia service members who died in World War I, is also a reminder of the sacrifices made by veterans, whose contributions Trump has repeatedly downplayed.
“I think and hope,” the representative continued, “[that] our viewpoints about the actions in Iran, both on a political and human level, speak for themselves in the way the game is represented.”
