With its finger squarely on the zombified pulse of 2021’s cultural zeitgeist, the Trump administration has inexplicably decided to promote the current White House’s MAGA agenda with a promo video parodying AMC Theatres’ near-five-year-old Nicole Kidman ad.
And good news! It’s even AI-generated!
On Monday (August 3), the White House released the promotional video on social media alongside the caption, “Silence your cell phones. Sit back. Welcome to the Golden Age.”
Opening with a reflection of the White House in a puddle, the clip follows a man (AI-generated, to be clear) wearing a Make America Great Again hat as he wanders the grounds of the iconic Washington, D.C. building.
“We come to this place for MAGA,” says a narrator over the original ad’s orchestral score, continuing to riff on the real ad’s campy script. “Rebuilding our country better than ever. A country where we don’t do heartbreak — we do victory,” the narration continues.
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Meanwhile, the man journeys through the White House, passing a painting of President Donald Trump raising his fist following the 2024 rally assassination attempt. As he enters a screening room, he watches various clips of the president in action over the past few years.
“Welcome to the Golden Age,” the narrator finishes, as “MAGA” flashes on screen in the signature AMC Theatres font.
No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, we can probably all agree the parody is a little late to the party. Why the White House decided to reference what is essentially a half-decade-old meme on a random Monday in 2026 is as intangible as Kidman’s ethereal aura in the original ad.
The original commercial went wildly viral after its release in September 2021. Created to inspire moviegoers to get back out to movie theaters in the wake of COVID-19 shutdowns, Kidman’s melodramatic, earnest performance in the clip, as well as its mythical atmosphere, was a massive and unexpected hit, and the ad quickly became memed online.
In 2022, Nicole Fineman played Kidman in a hilarious Saturday Night Live sketch parodying the ad. A year later, Jimmy Kimmel referenced the AMC ad at the 95th Academy Awards. The viral ad was even spoofed during the final season of The Boys, with Firecracker acting as Kidman in a commercial to promote Vought’s VMC Theatres.
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