This Arcade Game Lets You Invade Iran as Trump
You literally cannot win.
Three working arcade cabinets appeared on Monday at the D.C. War Memorial, courtesy of The Secret Handshake, the anonymous art collective behind last fall's Trump-Epstein “Best Friends Forever” statue and the gold toilet that turned up near the Lincoln Memorial in March. The game on them is called Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell. You play as Donald Trump. Pete Hegseth orders you onto Kid Rock's helicopter. Putin shows up as a centaur. It's actually pretty great, or at least it’ll probably give you a bit of a chuckle.
The contents are about what you’d expect. You play as Trump, moving around a White House map. Pete Hegseth orders you onto Kid Rock’s helicopter for the trip to Iran. You’re up against the Pope, DEI, low-flow shower heads, and battles with Iranian schoolgirls. Plus, of course, Kash Patel and his missing beer pong balls.
Per the collective’s statement to HuffPost: “Just to save you time, the only way you can lose is by trying to hold Melania’s hand. But it’s The Middle East, so you also can’t win either.”
A plaque next to the cabinets explains the project:
“The Trump administration knows that the best way to sell combat is by making it a video game, that’s why they’ve been pumping out the ‘sickest’ Iran War video game hype reels. But why stop at clips when you could go full throttle? Introducing Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell, a high-octane, flag-waving, boots-on-the-ground simulator where freedom isn’t debated, it’s deployed. No briefings, no hesitation; just pure pixelated patriotism. Strap in and play hard, because this game may never end.”
The game is also playable online at epicfurious.com, which means it’ll outlast the cabinets. Those are only expected to stay up for a few days.
As I mentioned earlier, this isn’t Secret Handshake’s first stunt. The collective has spent the last several months putting up satirical Trump installations around D.C.: the Trump-Epstein “Best Friends Forever” statue last September, the Titanic-pose “King of the World” statue in March, the giant gold toilet near the Lincoln Memorial later that month. Park Police tend to pull them down fast. Best Friends Forever was gone within 24 hours.
About those Iran War video game “hype reels”
They’re real.
The White House and Pentagon started posting them on their official X and TikTok accounts in early March, at the start of the war. One video intercut Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III footage with U.S. airstrike footage of Iranian jets and missile launchers. Another used clips from Top Gun, Braveheart, anime, and superhero movies, cut against real strike footage, with electronic music behind it. It ended on Mortal Kombat’s “flawless victory” audio. A separate post showed a Grand Theft Auto scene. One video carried the caption “JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY,” next to an American flag and a fire emoji.
At the time, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly defended the videos to ABC:
“Under the decisive leadership of President Trump, America’s heroic warfighters are meeting or surpassing all of their goals under Operation Epic Fury. The legacy media wants us to apologize for highlighting the United States Military’s incredible success, but the White House will continue showcasing the many examples of Iran’s ballistic missiles, production facilities, and dreams of owning a nuclear weapon being destroyed in real time.”
Okay!
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who lost both her legs in combat, was not thrilled, responding on X: “War is not a f------ video game. Six Americans are dead and thousands more are at needless risk because of your illegal, unjustified war. And you’re calling this a flawless victory.”
And yeah, I know we’re all pretty desensitized when it comes to he White House, but this was some pretty gross propaganda, even by their standards. Somehow, the satirical video game about the administration’s inept handling of the war is less of a parody than what the official White House accounts put out.
The cabinets probably won’t be there long. The website will hopefully outlast them, and naturally, the hype reels are still up on the White House’s accounts.
Being 50, I am an arcade game nerd, of course. I really want to see the cabinets!
i used to say the official history of these years will be written in graphic comic format.
now i realize it will be told in ... hype reels.
the unofficial history will obviously be told in video games and lego animations.