Trump normalizes AI deepfakes as standard political communication tool

Donald Trump is using artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes as a standard tool of political communication, posting fabricated videos and images to shape public perception and undermine trust in verifiable evidence. This represents a fundamental shift in presidential communication that threatens to accelerate the collapse of shared reality, as AI technology makes it increasingly difficult to distinguish authentic content from sophisticated forgeries.

The big picture: Trump’s embrace of deepfakes extends beyond mere political theater—it’s part of a systematic effort to dismantle institutional sources of truth and replace them with manufactured narratives that serve his political interests.

Key examples of deepfake deployment: Trump has consistently shared AI-generated content to mislead the public and attack opponents.

• Over the weekend, he posted a fabricated video showing himself piloting a fighter jet that dumps excrement on protesters.
• During his 2024 campaign, he shared an AI-generated image falsely suggesting Taylor Swift had endorsed him.
• Last month, he posted a fake clip of Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader, declaring, “Nobody likes Democrats anymore. We have no voters left because of all of our woke, trans bullshit.”
• In his first term, he tweeted footage spliced to exaggerate Nancy Pelosi’s verbal stumbles.

How this normalizes manipulation: Trump’s use of deepfakes has legitimized the technology as a political weapon, with his allies following suit.

• The campaign arm of Senate Republicans released an AI-produced ad depicting Schumer speaking words from a press report rather than actual footage.
• Paul Ingrassia, Trump’s withdrawn nominee for Office of Special Counsel, had his lawyer suggest that racist text messages attributed to him might have been AI-fabricated, despite no evidence supporting this claim.

Why this threatens democratic discourse: The proliferation of deepfakes is creating an environment where citizens will dismiss any inconvenient evidence as potentially manipulated.

• Partisans will accept video footage when it supports their beliefs while dismissing contradictory evidence as deepfakes.
• This selective skepticism provides “another justification for the confirmation of ideological bias” rather than promoting genuine discernment.

Systematic dismantling of truth institutions: Trump is targeting the traditional arbiters of factual information across multiple fronts.

• He has fired officials like the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics who produce objective data, replacing them with loyalists.
• Federal agencies “once meant to measure reality now risk becoming instruments that manufacture it.”
• His administration pressured Paramount, CBS’s parent company, into settling a spurious lawsuit over a 60 Minutes episode, sending a message that adversarial media coverage carries financial risk.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has imposed restrictions effectively expelling reporters from the Pentagon to prevent independent reporting.

The broader context: Trump’s deepfake strategy aligns with a philosophical vision promoted by his Silicon Valley ally Elon Musk, who has suggested human existence might be a computer simulation where “truth can always be revised” and “manipulation is the most basic fact of life.”