‘Trump is just trying to stay relevant’: Inside the ex-president’s AI-generated images frenzy

First appeared “Comrade Kamala” with a hammer and sickle. Then, a line of blonde women wearing “Swifties for Trump” merch. By the time Donald Trump himself appeared riding a lion, it was clear: fan-generated AI images were the Republican candidate’s latest obsession.

The former president has been sharing such images as far back as March 2023, with his face photoshopped onto images including a Second World War soldier, a cowboy and even the muscle-bound body of Rambo – earnestly and unironically.

Yet the frequency of Trump’s sharing of such fantastical images has ramped up considerably in recent weeks. Notably, it seems, following the ascension of Kamala Harris to become the Democratic nominee and the online success of her own campaign.

June Cross, director of the Documentary Journalism Program at Columbia University, suggests one simple reason for this: Trump is just trying to stay relevant.

“In 2016, whatever Trump posted actually blew into the liberal media,” Cross tells The Independent. “People would be reacting like ‘can you believe this outrageous thing he said today?’ I’m not sure if that’s happening this time around, because Kamala has proven herself as adept at using social media as Trump was. She’s just better at coming up with memes.”

The Harris campaign has quickly excelled in the online sphere, ever since British pop singer Charli XCX declared that “kamala is brat” – a reference to her wildly popular new album. The addition of Tim Walz, already familiar with viral videos, thanks to his daughter Hope, has only built momentum.

Cross suggests that Trump’s over-posting of AI images is, as the younger generation might say, an attempt to “clap back” at the Harris campaign in whatever way he can. “It’s almost like throwing spitballs on the wall and seeing what will stick,” she tells The Independent.

But Trump’s online posting – unlike that of his political rivals – is, and always has been, much more sincere.

From his first presidential campaign in 2016, Trump has attempted to project an image of himself as a strong leader, capable of uniting America in the face of great evil. Now, thanks to AI, he and the Republicans have a tool that allows them to visualise the hypothetical realities they are peddling to their supporters, who seem receptive to the visual hyperbole of AI slop that now dominates right-wing social media platforms and accounts.

“Things like him on the lion or lying about Taylor Swift, it’s aimed at trying to boost the morale of his supporters who do not get their news from anywhere else,” Cross says. “And there’s a whole army of people, of Trump supporters out there who get their news from social media... They don’t trust any of the mainstream outlets.”

Social commentator and activist Patrick Jones – known online as Mr Jones X – agrees. The integration of AI images into Trump’s campaign is about strengthening his support base, not expanding it, he says.

“He understands that these visual images have the ability to sway a specific demographic of people, because if they see a thing, especially if it’s coming from him on X or Truth Social, they’re going to believe it,” Jones tells The Independent.

The Trump campaign is already in possession of some of the most powerful political imagery of the past decade: the president’s mugshot, and defiant, fist-raised stance following the attempt on his life being just two. But in the wake of Joe Biden stepping down and Harris emerging as the Democratic party’s presidential candidate, this seems to have been forgotten.

“It was absolute panic, because now none of those talking points were going to work any longer. The whole framework of their campaign – essentially, they had to throw it out,” Jones says. The momentum of the Harris-Walz campaign is “hard to combat”, he adds. “So now you have to come up with the most absurd talking points, the most absurd arguments.”

The former president’s recent fixation on AI-generated promotions comes at a time in which serious concerns are being raised in Congress about the use of such content in the upcoming election – though there are currently few if any federal laws or regulations.

In March, Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, introduced two bills to address voter-facing AI-generation election content; one to ban deep-fakes of candidates, and the other to require disclosures on AI-manipulated political ads.

Republicans on the Senate Rules Committee voted against both, but a Democratic majority advanced the bills out of committee in May. They then failed a unanimous consent vote on the Senate floor in July and are still waiting for another go at a full Senate vote. But these images can have a bigger impact than a funny social media post.

“It's definitely potentially dangerous,” says Cross. “What they did in 2016 was actually dissuade people from going to the polls. And you've got states where the margins are anywhere from 7,000 to 20,000 votes.

“So if you can get those people to stay home, or get those people to switch votes a tiny number of them, or even not vote, that would be significant in the seven swing states that we're looking at right now.”