MaddowBlog-As shutdown deadline arrives, Trump pushes racist and vulgar deepfake targeting Democrats

[LetMyPeopleVote]

With time running out, the president thought it’d be good to target Democrats with a video that was equal parts vulgar, racist and dishonest.

Among the many problems with Trump targeting Democratic leaders with a racist and vulgar deepfake the day before the government shutdown deadline:

This guy’s really bad at negotiating and dealmaking. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-09-30T13:00:45.092Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/shutdown-deadline-arrives-trump-pushes-racist-vulgar-deepfake-targetin-rcna234644

Three years into Barack Obama’s first term, as House Republicans pushed the nation closer to a government shutdown, Donald Trump spoke up and urged the public to blame the Democratic president. “If there is a shutdown I think it would be a tremendously negative mark on the president of the United States,” he told NBC News. “He’s the one that has to get people together.”

Fourteen years later, it’s Trump who’s in the White House, demonstrating his own unique approach to getting people together to prevent a shutdown. The New York Times reported:

President Trump shared an A.I.-generated video on Truth Social, mocking the Democrats’ congressional leaders hours after he met with them in negotiations to avert a government shutdown. The video, which fabricated the voice of Senator Chuck Schumer at a news conference on Monday afternoon, falsely accuses Democrats of trying to give free health care to undocumented immigrants to gain their support. In the video, the Democrats’ House leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, who is Black, is pictured with a fake mustache and wearing a sombrero.

.....Not surprisingly, Democrats were not amused. Jeffries spoke to MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell and called the video “disgusting,” before adding, “Bigotry will get you nowhere.”

Jeffries: "It's a disgusting video and we're gonna continue to make clear -- bigotry will get you nowhere. We are fighting to protect the healthcare of the American people in the face of an unprecedented Republican assault."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-09-30T02:19:13.178Z

.....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.

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. As Schumer summarized in response to the president’s post, “If you think your shutdown is a joke, it just proves what we all know: You can’t negotiate. You can only throw tantrums.”

[Jilly_in_VA]

1. The orange slime is completely off the rails

How can the mMSM not SEE and PUBLISH the facts? Are they that scare or that BOUGHT?

[AZJonnie]

2. That video is technically not a 'deepfake' but the point is well taken regardless

Last edited Tue Sep 30, 2025, 02:19 PM - Edit history (1)

Deepfakes by definition are intended to be viewed as real/legit, which this obviously was not. It was, however all the other adjectives used to describe it.

Schumer's tame response to such an outrageous move once again worries me that the man is not up to the task at hand.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Hakeem Jeffries responds to the AI video Trump posted mocking him and Schumer:

Link to tweet

[highplainsdem]

4. Disgusting.