In this rather trying period of the presidency of Donald Trump, restraint in criticism has plainly taken a flying leap where bad-mouthing opponents are concerned. This applies to Trump himself, with the vaguely-defined “resistance” of factions that stand against his rulings.

Everything that has anything to do with Trump is targeted as fair game for venting displeasure. As early as the aftermath of elections, his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has gotten some very harsh treatment. On this July 4th celebration, the first of the Trump Presidency, a simple well-meaning act on Trump’s Walk of Fame star by a Twitter user found itself politicized and accordingly slammed by anti-Trump social media.

Simple gesture politicized

Twitter user Makenna Greenwald, who only goes by Makenna on the micro-blogging network, had posted photos of herself last June 29 at Donald Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star, wiping off a significant build-up of angry and insulting graffiti against the US President. It was a very good turn that by itself could be construed as non-partisan in nature.

Unfortunately, Greenwald’s accompanying caption ensured that her actions could not be interpreted as being anything but solid support for Trump against his critics.

She typed: “Nothing but respect for MY president,” punctuated with the hashtag “#RaisedRight.”

Reaction to her tweet was of the expected sort. Greenwald’s Twitter page was promptly flooded with negative comments by people purporting to be part of the anti-Trump "resistance".

But they were also channeling the same low-brow attitude that has been constantly accused of their usual target Trump.

And this time @Makenna, who may have had decent intentions for cleaning up the President’s Walk of Fame star, was slammed with similar Trump-like vitriol. This was punctuated by a later tweet from one @alexaagaarciaa with a photo of the star covered in anti-Trump propaganda stickers as if rendering her efforts futile.

One bright spot for Greenwald would be the commendation for her actions by Presidential son Eric Trump.

Independence Day meme

But another unintended effect of the viral attention given to Makenna Greenwald’s tweet of cleaning up the Donald Trump star was that it got turned into a new meme. In the days leading to July 4, more and more Twitter regulars have posted pictures of themselves at the Hollywood Walk of Fame aping the original tweet.

The difference is that they were polishing up the stars of other celebrities but parroting Makenna’s caption, thus implying that the celebrity in focus was their (humorous) choice for US President.

One example is the star of Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis.

With all this memetic hullaballoo going on with Trump and the Fourth of July, the likes of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Weird Al Yankovic can heave a sigh of relief that their own Walk of Fame stars will not be inducted until 2018.
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