President Donald Trump’s use of artificial intelligence to shape political discourse reached new heights this week, as he shared a series of AI-generated videos targeting Democratic leaders and fueling a wider debate about misinformation, presidential decorum, and the future of political communication. The controversy unfolded against the tense backdrop of a government shutdown, with critics and supporters alike weighing in on the implications of this new era of meme-driven leadership.
On Monday, October 6, 2025, Trump met privately at the White House with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The high-stakes meeting was intended to broker a deal to prevent a looming government shutdown, with Democrats pushing for an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire at year’s end—a move they argued was crucial to avoid sharp increases in insurance premiums for millions of Americans. Despite the urgency, the talks ended in stalemate, and the government officially shut down early Wednesday morning, October 8, 2025, according to HuffPost.
But the policy gridlock was soon overshadowed by Trump’s online antics. Within hours of the White House meeting, the president posted an AI-generated video depicting Jeffries in a cartoonish sombrero and mustache, accompanied by doctored audio of Schumer making derogatory remarks about Black people, Latinos, and trans individuals. The video, which played on stereotypes and repeated false claims about Democrats giving free health care to undocumented immigrants, quickly sparked outrage.
Jeffries, appearing on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell the next day, condemned the video as “disgusting” and challenged Trump to confront him directly. “Don’t cop out through a racist and fake AI video,” Jeffries declared. “When I’m back in the Oval Office, say it to my face. Say it to my face.”
Undeterred, Trump doubled down on Tuesday night, October 7, sharing yet another AI-generated clip featuring Jeffries—again with a mustache and sombrero—this time with Trump’s own face superimposed on members of a mariachi band. The posts, shared on Trump’s Truth Social platform and later amplified to his 109.5 million followers on X (formerly Twitter), garnered tens of millions of views, according to NBC News.
The reaction online was swift and polarized. Critics decried the videos as beneath the dignity of the presidency, especially at a moment when the nation was grappling with a government shutdown. “This vulgar AI video is not from a disturbed 12-year-old, it’s from the president of the United States,” wrote one user on X. Another lamented, “How bad is America right now? This is the level of discourse coming from the President of the United States.” Even some Republicans voiced their dismay, with the “Republicans against Trump” account calling him “a national embarrassment.”
Yet among Trump’s supporters, the videos were embraced as part of his signature style—irreverent, meme-savvy, and unfiltered. The White House, for its part, stood firmly behind the president’s approach. “President Trump is the most memetic communicator in presidential history, and his adroit use of social media has been key to driving his Make America Great Again movement to the forefront of American politics and society,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told NBC News. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed that sentiment, saying, “He’s incredibly transparent, as you all know. You hear from him directly on social media. He likes to share memes. He likes to share videos.”
The embrace of AI-generated content by Trump and his administration is not a passing fad. Federal agencies have also joined in, posting memes and AI images to appeal to the president’s base. The administration has even released an “AI Action Plan” to encourage technological development, and Trump has positioned himself as an ally of the AI industry, inviting tech CEOs to the White House. The timing coincides with a surge in generative AI technology, including the recent release of OpenAI’s Sora 2, which enables advanced video generation on millions of smartphones.
Trump’s use of synthetic media is prolific. Since returning to the White House in January 2025, he has posted dozens of AI-generated images and deepfake videos, with about half of those coming in August and September, according to an NBC News review. The content ranges from obviously fake mythmaking—such as Trump depicted as a lion or a conductor—to videos with a higher potential to mislead, like the altered clip of Trump throwing a red hat onto someone’s head in the Oval Office, set to the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.”
Experts warn that the normalization of such content poses serious risks. Conor M. Dowling, a professor of political science at the University at Buffalo, told HuffPost, “There has been some desensitization—not only to the president sharing such content, but to such content in general.” He noted that Trump’s AI videos often misinform the public about the real policy debates, such as health care subsidies for undocumented immigrants. “While the video is offensive to some, what’s potentially just as worrying is that it’s also misinforming the public about what the debate between Democrats and Republicans is truly over,” Dowling said.
Grant Reeher, professor of political science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, observed that Trump’s willingness to personally share such material marks a break from past presidential norms. “In earlier times, such things as this video—which some will find insulting, others aggravating, and others funny—were done by other people who could not be associated with the president himself,” Reeher told HuffPost. “That was out of belief that it was important for a president to remain ‘presidential.’ To conduct himself with a certain decorum of civility, restraint, and respect. But that has never been this president’s M.O.—he blew that up a long time ago.”
Valerie Wirtschafter, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies AI in politics, pointed out that Trump’s meme-infused approach is effective at grabbing attention. “They go viral. They get attention. They’re this meme-ification of politics,” she told NBC News. “They’re a little odd. But they get shared. They get eyeballs.”
But the proliferation of AI-generated content is not without its dangers. Michelle Amazeen, a mass communication professor at Boston University, highlighted the risk of misinformation, noting that most people want such content clearly labeled. In a BU survey, 84% of respondents said AI-generated media should be marked as such, and 81% said social media platforms should remove unauthorized deepfakes. “There’s a whole swath of people out there who are so turned off by this that they’ve tuned out,” Amazeen said.
Samuel Woolley, an associate professor of communication at the University of Pittsburgh, warned that generative AI can “bend reality” for those who consume it, serving the goals of those who wish to create alternative narratives or distract from scientific facts. Daniel Schiff, a technology policy professor at Purdue University, described the ambiguity of Trump’s posts: “Is this something that’s going to happen? Or something that they just might want to happen? It can be a gray area.”
As the government shutdown drags on and the boundaries of political communication continue to blur, Trump’s embrace of AI-generated media stands as both a symptom and a driver of a new era—one where reality, satire, and misinformation collide in the digital public square. Whether this approach will ultimately help or harm the nation’s democracy remains a question with no easy answers.
