President Trump weaponises AI-generated content, posting deepfakes depicting himself as king and Superman while portraying opponents as criminals
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has weaponised artificial intelligence-generated content as a core communications strategy during his second White House term.
His Truth Social channel features hyper-realistic fake visuals glorifying himself as king, fighter pilot, and Superman while casting political opponents as criminals and laughingstocks.
Trump posted a fake video showing himself wearing a crown and flying a fighter jet labeled “King Trump” that dumps what appears to be excrement on protesters.
The clip accompanied by Kenny Loggins’s “Danger Zone” appeared during nationwide “No Kings” protests against his authoritarian behaviour.
Another White House post depicted Trump as Superman amid speculation about his health with the caption “THE SYMBOL OF HOPE” and “SUPERMAN TRUMP”.
Trump or his aides have posted AI-made images showing the president dressed as the pope, roaring alongside a lion, and conducting an orchestra at the Kennedy Center.
The fabricated imagery has deceived social media users, with some questioning in comments whether they were authentic.
Wired magazine recently labeled Trump “America’s first generative AI president” for this unprecedented use of synthetic media.
Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at Free Press, told AFP that “Trump peddles disinformation to boost his own image, attack his adversaries and control public discourse”.
She added that “unregulated generative AI is the perfect tool to capture people’s attention and distort reality” for someone like him.
In September, Trump triggered outrage after posting an apparent AI-generated video promising every American access to debunked “MedBed” hospitals.
The phony clip styled as a Fox News segment featured Lara Trump promoting a fictitious White House launch of the “historic new health care system”.
Trump has reserved his most provocative AI posts for rivals, including a video of Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office.
He also posted an AI clip of House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a fake mustache and sombrero, which Jeffries slammed as racist.
Joshua Tucker of NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics said Trump sees his time in office as “a non-stop political campaign” rather than trying to make people believe the images are real.
Mirroring Trump’s strategy, California Governor Gavin Newsom posted an AI video lampooning Republicans after Democrats swept key US elections.
The clip depicted wrestlers with Democratic leaders’ faces knocking down Republican opponents including Trump with the caption “Now that’s what we call a takedown”. – AFP
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