After spending the day golfing while millions of Americans marched in protest. (Image Source: X.com/ANI)
After spending the day golfing while millions of Americans marched in protest, President Donald Trump escalated his online theatrics with an AI-generated video depicting himself as a monarch in full command.
The video, posted on his private as well as his official social media profiles, is of Trump piloting a fighter plane with the inscription "KING TRUMP" soaring over what looks like Times Square, dropping a brown substance on protesters as Kenny Loggins' 'Danger Zone' plays in the background, an obvious reference to the Top Gun movies.
The protests, held with a banner of "No Kings," were said to attract close to seven million demonstrators across the country, raising alarms regarding the president's political authority and behavior.
Trump's supporters responded by dismissing the demonstrations with mockery and conspiracy-fueled verbiage. House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republican lawmakers referred to the demonstrations as "Hate America" rallies, while Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy insinuated that those attending were either Hamas sympathizers or Antifa agents, repeating previous assertions that the movement is a domestic terror threat.
Republican supporters also went all in on the "king" imagery, posting AI-generated content showing Trump clad in crowns and royal clothing. Vice President JD Vance uploaded a video of the president with a crown and cape on, with Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, kneeling before him.
Other Trump-associated accounts shared fake Time magazine covers and AI-generated videos of him waving from the White House wrapped in red velvet.
They are one manifestation of a larger trend of digitally amplified posturing. In September, while preparing to send the National Guard to Chicago, Trump posted an AI-generated photo of himself in a cowboy hat and military fatigues, with helicopters flying over a burning Chicago skyline, with the caption "Chipocalypse Now," a nod to the 1979 Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now.
