It Sure Looks Like the Department of Education Is Promoting a Right-Wing ‘Harry Potter’ Meme

It shows a trio of students walking toward a sprawling Hogwarts-like castle while a young girl with long, flowing white-blonde hair watches them from the foreground, accompanied with the text “There’s Magic in Learning!” and “Make Education Great Again.”

But for a hyper-online, highly radicalized subset of the internet, the state was not just communicating a vague policy stance—it appeared to be adopting the deeply-coded visual language of the “Malfoid.”

The reaction online was immediate. On X, Bulwark reporter Will Sommer quickly diagnosed the situation, posting that the Department of Education was “embracing the ‘malfoid’ meme, a right-wing fan fiction idea about a female Draco Malfoy who Harry Potter could fall in love with.” Others responded with Malfoid art and AI-generated clips, including some featuring President Donald Trump.