Want to Understand Trump? Pay Attention to his AI

In the late hours of the 6^th of February, Donald Trump posted a bizarre, AI generated video that depicted his political opponents as animals on Truth Social. The now-deleted clip had the faces of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez superimposed onto jungle animals, whilst The Lion Sleeps Tonight blared in the background. Amongst them, former President Joe Biden took the form of a monkey eating a banana, whilst a bold and powerful Trump was in the form of a lion, taking his rightful place as king of this political jungle. Most jarringly, however, the grinning faces of former President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama were pasted onto the bodies of monkeys, mindlessly moving to the music. 

The clip, which was no more than a minute, was part of a longer video that was perpetuating the conspiracy theory that Trump won the 2020 election, sourced from a third-party user on X. Despite its subject matter, however, the clip of the Obamas and its clear, racist connection to a long history of black people being compared to primates has received a considerable amount of backlash from across the political spectrum. High-profile Democrats such as Gavin Newsom, the Democratic Governor for California, lambasted the clip in a post on X, stating that it was ‘disgusting behaviour’ from Trump and calling on Republicans to immediately ‘denounce’ his actions. Some followed suit, such as Republican Congressman Mike Lawler and Senator Tim Scott – but their protests all but fell short in the resounding silence from the Republican side.

In response, Trump and his aides engaged in a total refusal to take responsibility – both for posting the video and for its contents. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the video had been posted by an aide and that its coverage by journalists was nothing but a performance of 'fake outrage'. Trump himself, upon being questioned whilst disembarking Air Force One in the afternoon of the 6^th of February, refused to apologise on the grounds of being the 'least racist president you've had in a long time'. Moreover, he claimed that he had not watched the video in its entirety, and was thus unable to see the clip of the Obamas before posting it. 

The refusal of Trump and the White House to take responsibility for their actions is part of an ongoing, characteristic trend. The Guardian compiled a list of the multiple bigoted and inflammatory remarks made by the president during his second term aimed at women, immigrants and people of colour. These included statements that labelled Somalians as ‘garbage people’, immigrants as being from ‘shithole countries’ and demeaned female reporters. Apart from outrage on social media, mostly in left-wing spaces and from Democratic politicians, Trump and his administration have come out unscathed. 

This dehumanising, doctored clip of the Obamas evidences the current administration’s overt prejudice. The depiction of black people as monkeys is one that has had its origins in eugenics, a pseudo-scientific attempt to characterise them as dehumanised and beastly that has had repercussions throughout the history of the United States and wider world. Hate speech, racist language and incendiary statements about marginalised communities have also seen an increase in their usage online, highlighting how the Trump presidency is part of a larger cultural shift that has seen an increase in clear, unmasked intolerance in recent years. 

The usage of AI to create the video is a tool that Trump has become well-acquainted with to push such rhetoric. Last July, he posted an AI video on Truth Social of Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office whilst a smiling Trump looked on. October saw him post a slew of images – as a pope, Jedi Knight, and warrior – to affirm his power. Notably, an AI image of him as ‘King Trump’ dropping excrement from a fighter jet onto protestors was clearly in defiance against the ‘No Kings’ rallies that had been occurring across the US. 

The proliferation of AI images and videos to belittle his opponents is a strategy that considers a 'combative, meme-like style' in Trump’s usage of social media. The accessibility of AI, its increasing realism in the creation of pictures and videos and rapid dissemination across all corners of the Internet make it an extremely useful political tool for his administration to use. Though the actual purpose for using AI may remain unclear, its ability to provide specific visuals and appeal to a younger audience is surely core to its power. More than anything, widespread desensitisation towards Trump and his repeated bigotry, combined with the weaponisation of AI media, makes for a deeply concerning development in our splintered, divided and inflamed political climate. Trump is the warrior; AI is the sword; Truth Social may as well be the battlefield.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Donald Trump (The White House) via AI

Licence: public domain (work of a public servant + copyright-illegitimate AI product)

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