JEDDAH: From the targeted travel ban to banishing laptops on flights from some Middle Eastern airports, US President Donald Trump is no stranger to trending Twitter memes from the Arab world.
Rarely have the quirky online trends been in the president’s favor — until now. Social media erupted following Trump’s decision to conduct Friday’s military strike on a regime airbase in Syria, as the president broke from what many view as the previous administration’s inaction over the conflict.
The message? We love you, Trump.
The social-media trend saw many Arab Internet users change their profile pictures to images of Trump with the caption “we love you,” some accompanied with an image of the US flag.
One user Photoshopped an image of Trump wearing a Middle Eastern hat similar to a fez, also with the words “we love you.”
“You did in a few months what Obama couldn’t do in 8 years,” one user wrote.
Others started referring to the president as “Abu Ivanka” — father of Ivanka — as a sign of respect and endearment, the BBC reported.
Another popular meme on social media showed a restaurant apparently rebranded under Trump’s name.
Yet not all the comments online were complimentary. Some believed that Trump’s actions would actually give a boost to terror groups such as Daesh — with at least one accompanied by the hashtag #Trump_make_ISIS_great_again.