On Monday, September 29, President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated deepfake video that depicts House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) wearing a sombrero while he talks to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and the famous Mexican standard "El Jarabe Tapatío," a.k.a. "The Mexican Hat Dance," plays in the background.
In the video, an AI-generated image of Schumer calls for "free health care" for "illegal aliens" and declares, "Nobody likes Democrats anymore. We have no voters left because of all of our woke trans b——. Not even Black people want to vote for us anymore. Even Latinos hate us."
Jeffries had an angry reaction to the video, telling MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell that Trump would rather resort to racist attacks than have a serious conversation about federal spending and cuts to Medicaid and Obamacare subsidies.
The House minority leader told O'Donnell, "It's a disgusting video, and we're gonna continue to make clear: bigotry will get you nowhere. We are fighting to protect the health care of the American people in the face of an unprecedented Republican assault."
MSNBC's Steve Benen makes a similar argument in his September 30 column, emphasizing that Trump is posting racist videos because he's far from the "world-class dealmakers" he claims to be.
"At the heart of the ugly video was the idea that Democrats, by fighting to make health care affordable for American families, are secretly trying to fund coverage for undocumented immigrants — a line House Speaker Mike Johnson continued to peddle on Fox News Monday night," Benen explains. "He and his party are lying about this, though it's apparently a key part of the GOP's shutdown strategy. But let's also not lose sight of the larger context: Four hours after a White House meeting with congressional leaders and roughly 28 hours before the shutdown deadline, the sitting American president thought it'd be a good idea to amplify an AI-generated video attacking Democrats — whose votes will be needed to resolve the standoff — that was equal parts vulgar, racist and dishonest."
Benen continues, "It might seem like ages ago, but during Trump's first campaign, he presented himself to voters as a world-class dealmaker who knew exactly how to bring Democrats and Republicans together to reach bipartisan agreements. He was the consummate negotiator, Trump said, who knew what it took to make deals happen. A decade later, those boasts have been exposed as a sham."
Steve Benen's full MSNBC column is available at this link.