Time Magazine Depicts Trump as King, Supporters Make Memes in Glee

Time Magazine’s teasing of its upcoming cover featuring the US president in royal regalia might have been a bit of a mistake, as Trump supporters have widely mocked and ridiculed the depictions.

On the internet, everything is either a meme or a potential meme. So when Time magazine teased the cover of the upcoming June 18 issue on Twitter, featuring a rather unconventional portrait of Trump, netizens set about doing what they do best: mercilessly mocking its pretension.

The president is shown looking in a mirror at his reflection, dressed as a king, complete with a crown and mantle. The issue is named "King Me," and, according to the magazine's website, is dedicated to how Trump and his team allegedly influenced the US government's Russian meddling investigation.

TIME’s new cover: Donald Trump's campaign to discredit the Russia investigation may be working. It's also damaging American democracy https://t.co/z3bDDFdd6c pic.twitter.com/tL7Rafd0ya

— TIME (@TIME) 7 июня 2018 г.

​However, the image, which was obviously intended as satire, immediately blew up among Trump supporters on social media, with one user publishing a photoshopped version on Reddit's The_Donald subreddit.

The edited picture shows Trump's face replaced with the infamous Pepe the frog in the reflection, along with Reddit mascot Snoo wearing Trump's trademark red baseball hat in the background.

"Mirror, Mirror on THE WALL, who's the WOKEST of us ALL??," the caption reads, featuring the internet's slang term for being socially conscious.

Another post features a much cooler collage of members of the Trump family blended into what appears to be the costumes of British monarchs and aristocratic military garb.

"The Man Who Would Be King. Time your meme is wayyy behind the times," the caption reads.

The subreddit's Twitter features a third collage with Trump's face carefully montaged into the picture of King Washington from the video game Assassin's Creed 3.

"This is how you do it, @TIME," this one says.

This is how you do it, @TIME pic.twitter.com/3XbseL0JET

— /r/The_Donald (@thedonaldreddit) 7 июня 2018 г.

​The Reddit commentary below the images wrestled with issues of absolute power and other divisions.

"When we depict @realDonaldTrump as a king (or God Emperor, etc.) it's facetious, all in good fun. When the lefties treated #BarackObama as a king (or messiah, etc.) they meant it seriously," one of the comments reads.

"America tells kings to pound sand… we went to war with them and still do around the world……so Whats good for them is good for us…..Go King Trump!!!!," reads another.

Oh, internet…