As Republicans and Democrats try and hash out a last-minute price range deal to keep away from a authorities shutdown set to start at midnight on Wednesday, President Donald Trump has intervened within the course of in the way in which that he usually does: with misinformation and racism.
After assembly with prime congressional Democratic leaders, the president posted a racist, AI-generated video of Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer and Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, each of New York. The video spreads false narratives about undocumented immigrants, probably driving a deeper wedge between the leaders of the 2 events as they attempt to negotiate a deal to maintain authorities features working.
Trump posts racist, deepfake video of prime Congressional Democrats
On Monday, Trump hosted a assembly of the highest congressional leaders of each events. The assembly, which included Republican Senate Majority Chief John Thune of South Dakota, Home Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, in addition to Schumer and Jeffries, was meant to achieve a deal on a price range extension to keep away from a authorities shutdown. After the assembly concluded with out an settlement, Trump posted a racist video of Jeffries and Schumer on social media.
The video depicts the 2 standing outdoors the White Home, with a sombrero and mustache superimposed on Jeffries and mariachi music enjoying. The video seems to be AI-generated, with pretend feedback by Schumer saying, “No person likes Democrats anymore. We’ve got no voters left due to all of our woke, trans bulls**t. Not even Black folks need to vote for us anymore.” The deepfake depiction of Schumer continues, “Even Latinos hate us. So, we’d like new voters, and if we give all these unlawful aliens free healthcare, we’d be capable to get them on our aspect to allow them to vote for us.” The remark seems meant to push a false narrative about federal healthcare funding. In actuality, undocumented immigrants are usually not allowed to obtain medical health insurance below the Inexpensive Care Act or Medicaid, and congressional Democrats are usually not proposing to vary that.
Jeffries and Schumer clap again at Trump as price range negotiations enter last hours
Jeffries responded to Trump’s taunts by calling out his racism and persevering with to push for healthcare funding.
“Bigotry will get you nowhere. Cancel the Cuts. Decrease the Value. Save Healthcare. We’re NOT backing down,” he posted on X, previously Twitter, with a photograph of Schumer and him outdoors the White Home.
Schumer retweeted Trump’s pretend video and responded, “When you assume your shutdown is a joke, it simply proves what everyone knows: You may’t negotiate. You may solely throw tantrums.”
Jeffries later posted an notorious image from his marketing campaign account of Trump posing along with his hand on the shoulder of Jeffrey Epstein, captioned “That is actual.”
As Blavity reported, the White Home assembly with prime congressional leaders from each events got here as Democrats and Republicans try to achieve a deal to keep away from a authorities shutdown, which might start as soon as the present price range expires on the finish of Tuesday. Trump’s White Home assembly got here per week after he canceled a beforehand scheduled assembly with Democrats, dismissing them as having “unserious and ridiculous calls for.” As the 2 events’ Home delegations have competing payments, neither of which at present has sufficient votes to cross, the White Home assembly was a part of a last-ditch effort to keep away from a authorities shutdown. If no deal is handed on Tuesday, the following shutdown would halt many non-essential federal authorities providers and ship a whole bunch of hundreds of presidency employees house with out pay; Trump has moreover threatened to put off federal workers as an alternative of merely furloughing them all through the shutdown.
The stakes for Monday’s White Home assembly had been due to this fact very excessive, making Trump’s infantile and racist response all of the extra stunning. Because the president treats the present price range deadlock as a joke and a possibility to push false and racist narratives, the potential affect of Trump’s “unserious and ridiculous” conduct could also be felt by Individuals throughout the nation if a deal isn’t made quickly.
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