The official X account for the U.S. Department of Education posted an overtly political image on Wednesday to mark Teacher Appreciation Week — depicting a beloved Nickelodeon cartoon character as a MAGA supporter.
"Teachers are dedicated," stated the account, showing a picture of Mrs. Puff, SpongeBob SquarePants' drivers' ed instructor, reading a giant red book labeled "MAGA."
The post was seen in poor taste by many commenters on social media, particularly as Trump's Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, incessantly talks about dismantling her own agency altogether.
"Republicans: the children are being indoctrinated by Democrats in schools! Republicans running the Department of Education:" wrote Texas House Democrats communications director Joshua Rush, indicating the image of Mrs. Puff.
"Ain’t no way Mrs. Puff is MAGA be so for real," wrote House Judiciary Democrats spokesperson Josh Sorbe.
"Dedicated despite Trump trying to eliminate the entire department," wrote Massachusetts congressional candidate Dan Koh.
"FLOOR IT," wrote the Abundance Institute's Shoshana Weissmann — a reference to Mrs. Puff's debut episode appearance, in which SpongeBob floors the gas and crashes the car-boat whenever he panics on the road test.
"It's a perfect tweet because, between the right-wing hatred of teachers and the graphic having the character reading a book called MAGA somehow, there are zero people happy about it," wrote attorney Damin Toell.