A Democratic congressman has opened a new front in the AI disinformation war by launching a Jeffrey Epstein-themed trolling campaign aimed squarely at Donald Trump.
Jimmy Gomez posted to his X account an AI-generated image styled as a movie poster, in which Trump is embracing the late pedophile and one-time friend above the banner Crazy Rich Pedos, a send-up of the 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians.
There is no suggestion that Trump was involved in any kind of illegality with the convicted sex offender, with whom he regularly socialized during the 1990s and early 2000s.
The 79-year-old has always denied all allegations of sexual impropriety made against him, and Gomez did not allege criminal conduct by Trump in his post.
Trump’s relationship with the financier, who took his own life in 2019, haunts the president, as he fights against releasing the Epstein files. During his campaign, Trump had demanded the files be released, and the delay angered a large chunk of his base.
The poster jab by Gomez seizes on a chapter Trump has long tried to keep at arm’s length.
With the government in a shutdown, and each side of the House seeking to blame the other, Trump’s AI posts have been multiplying.
The bold move by Gomez, 50, comes as Trump faces increasing anger, having now posted several pieces of AI-generated content.
They included one on Monday that slapped a sombrero and moustache on House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and used a fake voiceover to smear Democrats.
Jeffries called the video “racist” and “fake,” while House Speaker Mike Johnson was even recorded criticizing it during a fiery confrontation with a Democratic congressman, who told him it was “racist.”
“It wasn’t my style,” Johnson told Madeleine Dean, in footage posted to social media by CNN’s Manu Raju.
The poster chosen by Gomez for the AI spoof was designed to promote a movie about the affluent lifestyle of successful families who once relocated to the U.S..
Gomez himself was the son of working-class immigrants. He entered politics after studying at UCLA and Harvard.
In response to Jeffries’ complaints, Trump pushed another AI concoction in the run-up to the shutdown. He is inserting himself mariachi-style into footage of Jeffries’ TV interview.
Stopgap bills collapsed in the Senate on Tuesday night, paving the way for the government to shut down on Wednesday.
Republicans have been pushing for a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government at current levels through mid-November.
Democrats want the deal to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits expiring at year’s end and undo some Medicaid cuts baked into the GOP’s tax bill earlier this year.
The Trump administration’s claims that Democrats want undocumented migrants to get free healthcare have been widely debunked as a lie.
Gomez is not alone among Dems in fighting back against Trump’s increasingly erratic and unappealing online behavior.