‘Keep him out of this’: Trump’s White House slammed as it uses Lightning McQueen to push Freedom 250 race | indy100

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

From Star Wars to Grand Theft Auto, US president Donald Trump’s administration has long borrowed from popular intellectual property to push its controversial political agenda, and now, it’s once again used Cars to promote the Freedom 250 Grand Prix at the weekend.

The event on Saturday and Sunday (22-23 August), which was the first IndyCar race to take place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was the latest event marking the 250th anniversary of the United States.

It was won by Florida driver Kyle Kirkwood.

However, attention was also drawn to a White House tweet on Sunday promoting the event, which featured an image of Cars character Lightning McQueen emblazoned with the American flag, and the 2006 movie logo replaced with “MAGA Freedom 250 Grand Prix”.

One X/Twitter user criticised the move and said: “Get Lightning out of your f***ing magaslop advertising NOW. He would NEVER support this s***. Even more if it’s made with AISLOP”:

Another wrote sarcastically: “‘Guys the race isn’t political!!! How dare you make it political!!!’”

And PatriotTakes replied: “Ka-Chow these gas prices are still high”:

It’s not the first time that the Trump administration has used Cars to push the event, as the Department of Education shared an image of Lightning McQueen in front of the White House to promote the grand prix last month.

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