How President Trump Uses A.I.

In one fake image, President Trump cosplays as the pope. In another, he looks on as agents arrest Barack Obama. In a third, he stands atop a mountain, having conquered Canada.

The era of A.I. propaganda is here — and Trump is an enthusiastic participant. He has posted A.I. items dozens of times on his Truth Social account, according to a review by The Times. Over the weekend, he posted a video in which he flies a fighter jet and dumps excrement on protesters.

Political experts say that even the most anodyne uses of A.I. by the president normalize these tools as a new type of political propaganda. “It’s designed to go viral, it’s clearly fake, it’s got this absurdist kind of tone to it,” said Henry Ajder, who runs an A.I. consultancy. “But there’s often still some kind of messaging in there.” It redefines — or in some cases discards — the idea of being “presidential.” In the posts, he does a TikTok dance with Elon Musk, depicts a political rival as fat or wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

The White House has responded to questions over Trump’s use of A.I. imagery by describing it as part of his successful social media strategy. “No leader has used social media to communicate directly with the American people more creatively and effectively than President Trump,” Liz Huston, the White House’s assistant press secretary, said on Friday in an emailed statement.

Evolving medium

Trump’s use of A.I. began in earnest during his 2024 campaign. After his first debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, he claimed that Haitian immigrants in Michigan were eating cats and dogs — a racist conspiracy theory for which there was no credible evidence. A backlash followed. Trump responded by depicting himself embracing cats, ducks and dogs. His supporters shared the images widely online:

“The more ridiculous the photo or video, the more likely it is to dominate our news feeds,” said Adrian Shahbaz, vice president for research and analysis at Freedom House, a nonprofit focusing on democracy and liberty around the world. “A controversial post gets shared by people who enjoyed it and people outraged by it. That’s twice the shares.”

In office, Trump’s use of A.I. became more sophisticated. It’s not clear whether Trump posts the imagery or lets his staff members do so. But he likes to joke about policy issues. When he appointed himself as the head of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, he published an image depicting himself as a conductor.

Attack formation

Trump has also skewered opponents. During his campaign, he visualized the supposed effects of “open borders,” contrasting two A.I. images: one an idyllic scene, the other an overcrowded one with trash piled out in the open.

After the government shut down over a funding fight this month, Trump cast his budget director as the Grim Reaper. The video was created by a guerrilla messaging outfit loyal to Trump. Its leader, Brenden Dilley, a podcaster and former congressional candidate, declined to comment. But during the re-election campaign, he wrote on X: “The truth no longer matters, all you have to do is go viral.”

See more of the images.

THE LATEST NEWS

Washington

• President Trump wants the Justice Department to pay him $230 million as compensation for years of F.B.I. investigations.

• Trump’s demand could be decided by officials who were once his personal lawyers. (An ethics expert told The Times that the arrangement was “almost too outlandish to believe.”)

• Paul Ingrassia, Trump’s pick to lead the office of the special counsel, withdrew his nomination. Ingrassia lost the support of several Republican senators after Politico reported that he had sent a series of racist text messages.

• Trump has no immediate plans to meet with Vladimir Putin, a reversal after Trump said last week that the two would meet soon.

The White House

• Trump is remaking the White House with renovations to the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, the Rose Garden, the West Colonnade and the East Wing. See what’s changing. (A story about the demolition was the most-clicked article in The Morning yesterday.)

• Someone drove a vehicle into a security gate outside the White House last night. A man was arrested, and there was no threat to the president, the Secret Service said.

More on Politics

• Republican state senators in North Carolina approved a new congressional map designed to help their party keep control of the U.S. House.

• A New York man pardoned by Trump after participating in the Jan. 6 attack has been charged with a new crime: threatening to assassinate Representative Hakeem Jeffries.

• More than 50 federal agents descended on Lower Manhattan yesterday, brushing past confused pedestrians to detain several men near Canal Street. Protests ensued.

• The Trump administration is relying on a 200-year-old legal precedent — stemming from the seizure of an old mare — to defend its deployment of National Guard troops.

Education

• The government shutdown means there is, in effect, no Education Department right now. It’s a glimpse of what schools may lose if Trump succeeds in eliminating the agency.

• An elite Hawaii school’s admission policy gives preference to Native Hawaiians. A new lawsuit calls it “blood-based discrimination.”

• The University of Virginia and the Trump administration are close to striking a deal. The school ousted its president in June as part of a monthslong standoff.

Middle East

• Vance went to Israel and expressed optimism that the cease-fire deal would hold. He declined to set a deadline for when Hamas must disarm.

• Trump’s peace plan in Gaza calls for an international security force, but countries that might send troops are wary of danger, an unclear mission and being seen as occupiers.

• Pro-Palestinian activists welcome the truce in Gaza. But the backlash to their demonstrations, some told The Times, offered sobering lessons about power and politics.

More International News

Career politicians care more about staying in power than serving the public. Congress needs term limits, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and former Representative David Trone of Maryland write.

Here’s a column by Jamelle Bouie on the “No Kings” protests.

MORNING READS

Mountaineer: Kilian Jornet gave himself a month to scale, by foot and by bike, the 72 tallest peaks in the contiguous United States. See how he did it.

Testosterone: Some middle-aged women talk about the hormone like a miracle drug that supercharged their libidos. But the side effects can be serious.

Lives Lived: In the 1960s and ’70s, Stephanie Johnson was a busy burlesque dancer in New York City. “I danced in so many mob clubs that I learned Italian,” she said. Johnson died at 81.

SPORTS

N.F.L.: The Giants quarterback Russell Wilson called the Broncos coach Sean Payton “classless” after comments the coach made about him.

N.B.A.: Michael Jordan made his league debut — in broadcasting. He appeared as a special contributor to the N.B.A. broadcast on NBC on the first day of the season, and he got personal.

Think you know ball? The N.B.A. season begins tonight. Try our basketball culture quiz — no stats here, but you will need to know a bit about Spike Lee and Larry David.

THE MIND’S EYE

At a retreat in New England, Chris Colin immersed himself in darkness for several days. Prolonged sensory deprivation is an ancient practice, though one that fell out of favor in part because participants are at risk of, well, psychic distress.

Ensconced in blackness, Colin writes, his mind created fantasy: “I was now inside a snow cave. The cave morphed into the Milky Way, so vivid that comets zipped by. Soon I was in an old stone fortress. (Habsburgian, I somehow knew.) Moonlight poured through a hole in the roof, bathing the floor in a pale blue and illuminating a column of dust.”

Read about the experience in The Times Magazine.

More on culture

• Public benches are suffering death by a thousand armrests. Click the video above to watch.

• The late night hosts discussed the construction of Trump’s ballroom at the White House.

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