The mysterious art collective responsible for more than a dozen installations mocking President Donald Trump and his administration over the past two years struck again on the National Mall in Washington on Monday morning, this time with an international twist.
The group, Secret Handshake, created “Operation Epic Furious: Nuuk ’Em All,” a satirical video game playable on three video game cabinets placed under the dome of D.C.’s World War I Memorial near the under-repair Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
The game, according to a news release sent by Secret Handshake, “turns all of Trump’s latest Greenland ambitions into an unhinged Arctic adventure.” Nuuk, a city of about 20,000 people, is the capital of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
In the game, the group says, the president “battles unthinkable evils like Fully Vaccinated Children, Woke Yetis, and the happiest people on Earth, the Danish. All the while, the player’s greatest challenge is trying to keep President Trump from falling back asleep.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new installation. It has previously dismissed the group’s work. In response to a mocking “Iran War Participation Trophy” that Secret Handshake installed on the National Mall in July, the White House said, “These untalented ‘artists’ should stick to their ugly ‘art’ and refrain from weighing in on foreign policy — which they clearly know nothing about, given the fact that the United States Military achieved all of its objectives during Operation Epic Fury.”
A fourth video game cabinet for “Operation Epic Furious: Nuuk ’Em All” appears to have been placed in Nuuk over the weekend, according to photos posted on Secret Handshake’s Instagram account. The photos show a console on a hillside overlooking the coastal town.
Representatives of Greenland’s government in Washington declined to comment on the installation.
The four video game consoles take aim at positions held by the Trump administration in regard to the United States’ relationship with Greenland. They are decorated with cartoon images of Trump as well as Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. There are also images of cartoon penguins wearing ammunition belts and American flag patches and a map of Greenland with made-up names and a large section of it labeled “Future Golf Course.”
Numerous quotes attributed to Trump adorn the consoles, including “That’s Our Territory. All we’re asking for is to get Greenland,” and “We need Greenland very badly. One way or the other, we’re going to get it.”
On Monday morning, a few visitors happened upon the video games. Shantha Tellambura, 62, and his wife, tourists from Australia who were spending their first day in Washington, said they were surprised to see the installations in a public setting.
“I think it’s very interesting and it signifies freedom of expression,” Tellambura said. “It’s important that ordinary people are allowed to express their opinions.”
The message the work delivered, he said, was necessary.
“We are headed toward a problematic time especially with the possibility of nuclear war,” he said.
Secret Handshake members have declined in phone interviews with The Washington Post to provide any identifying information. The group has previously placed installations and artwork critical of Trump at locations across Washington.
They include a statue of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands, a mock tribute to Trump from the world’s authoritarian leaders, and a reproduction of the desk of former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) with a pile of fake excrement on it that ridiculed the Jan. 6, 2021, rioters who sought to overturn the 2020 election.
In May, the group installed its first video game project. A playable game titled “Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell” targeted the war with Iran.
Previous installations by the group, all of which had a National Park Service permit for temporary display, were at prominent spots on the Mall, including directly in view of the Capitol’s west side. The group has also installed works in Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon.
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