Finn Ryan ‘29
Assistant to the Press Secretary
Early last Friday, President Trump posted a video to the White House’s Truth Social account that depicted Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller as a human being. The video initially seemed innocuous, displaying several Trump admin officials working in their offices to Kid Rock’s “Redneck Paradise” as a promotion for TPUSA’s All-American Halftime Show. Keen-eyed users online, however, soon realized and pointed out that the video was AI-generated when it showed Miller performing various human tasks including breathing, smiling, and showing compassion.
Despite being up for only a few hours, the post garnered significant backlash from both sides of the aisle: leading Democrats called it “vile” and “disrespectful” while one Congressional Republican labeled the video “an affront to humankind.” The bipartisan outcry caused the White House to take the post down after only a few hours. When asked about it, President Trump nevertheless refused to apologize, instead claiming the post was “made by a staffer” who had reportedly “never met Miller.”
The president met privately with South Carolina Senator Tim Scott Saturday morning, after Scott demanded Trump “apologize to every human with blood in his veins and life in his heart” on Twitter/X following the video’s posting. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), however, praised the video, saying online that it was “heartwarming” to see “others like him” depicted in likeness with humans.
The video’s posting and deletion has sparked much online discourse about the lengths of offensiveness and vulgarity the Trump administration has gone to and what is deemed appropriate for official accounts representing the federal government to post.
Copy edited by Sophia Mariani ’26
Featured image courtesy of CNN
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