Simi Valley Enters an Election Year — And the Rules for 2026 Just Changed
Daniel Jordan 
(CLAIR | Simi Valley, CA) — Simi Valley faces local elections in 2026. City council seats open up. School board positions come into play. Candidates will announce soon. And they face a question no previous generation of local politicians had to answer.
How do you reach voters who scroll past everything?
The answer might come from an unexpected place. The official White House TikTok account shows what happens when government communication abandons every traditional rule. Since August, the account has done something no official government presence has ever attempted. It grabs attention like a car crash. People watch because they cannot look away.
The account posts videos that mix popular songs with controversial footage. The posts use memes. They reference viral moments. They feel less like press releases and more like someone’s personal feed. The approach breaks decades of tradition about how official channels communicate with the public.
The strategy works. A September video set to the Pokémon theme song drew 1.9 million likes. The post showed ICE arrests synced to the lyrics “gotta catch ’em all.” The Pokémon Company never gave permission. They condemned the use. The video stayed up anyway.
Another post in November used “Defying Gravity” from Wicked. The caption read “holding space for this,” borrowing language from a viral interview moment. The video showed Trump smiling in the White House, then cut to ICE agents chasing people. Cynthia Erivo sings the song in the film. She publicly supported LGBTQ+ rights and spoke against the current administration’s policies.
In December, a video used Sabrina Carpenter’s song “Juno.” Carpenter had endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024. She called the video’s use of her music “evil and disgusting.” The White House removed the audio. Then they posted another video featuring Carpenter in an SNL clip. That one stayed up.
The posts generate millions of views. Comment sections fill with theories about who runs the account. Many users believe Barron Trump manages it. No one from the White House has confirmed this. The Office of Digital Strategy handles the account officially. No individual staffer has stepped forward to claim responsibility.
The account uses trending audio. It follows meme formats. It posts with timing that matches viral moments. One video about law enforcement used the Stranger Things theme song. The caption compared the previous administration to “the Upside Down.” Another video used SZA’s “Big Boy” and the phrase “cuffing season” to show ICE arrests.
Traditional government accounts post policy updates and official statements. They use formal language. They avoid controversy. This account does none of that. It provokes reactions. It courts attention. It operates more like an entertainment brand than a government agency.
The mystery around who controls the account adds to its appeal. People watch partly because they want to solve the puzzle. They study the editing style. They analyze the music choices. They debate whether someone went rogue or whether this represents intentional strategy.
Artists whose music appears in the videos push back. Nicki Minaj reposted one video that used her song. Others condemn the use of their work. The White House continues posting anyway. The account accumulates followers and engagement at rates traditional government accounts never reach.
The approach represents something new in political communication. It ignores dignity. It pursues virality. It treats social media as a battlefield for attention rather than a channel for information. Whether people approve or not, they watch. The metrics prove that much.
Simi Valley enters an election year. Local candidates watch what works nationally. The White House proves that traditional campaign communication fails to capture attention. Careful policy statements disappear in feeds. Viral content breaks through. The lesson arrives clearly for anyone running for city council or school board.
Government social media changed. The old rules disappeared. This account writes new ones every time it posts. People may hate it or love it. But they cannot ignore it. That might be the entire point.
