In his second term, Donald Trump transformed the artificial intelligence (AI) in an everyday instrument of political communication. It’s no longer just about eye-catching visuals, but an official narrative constructed through hyperrealistic images created or manipulatedwhich the president spreads to project strength, ridicule his critics or dramatize his agenda.
From impossible scenes—playing soccer with Cristiano Ronaldo in the Oficina Oval or sunbathe with Benjamin Netanyahu under a label of “Trump Gaza”—even fanciful versions of himself like Papaorchestra director or heroic figure, the president has made the IA an extension of your public identity.
The turn has been documented by the Poynter Institutereference center in media analysis and journalistic ethics in Floridawhose report notes that this is “the first US administration to adopt and use images generated by artificial intelligence in its daily communication.”
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According to that assessment, the strategy does not pursue realism but rather “the effectiveness of simplifying messages and reinforcing narratives through images designed for immediate impact,” which amplifies the Republican magnate’s ability to shape perceptions through highly emotional visual content.
Use of AI, a permanent Trump campaign
The Institute’s analysis highlights that this practice works as an incessant political campaign. Donald Trump uses AI-generated images to reinforce simplified messages, exploit the indignation of his detractors and mobilize his most active base.
The strategy includes pieces aimed at its adversaries: a video manufactured with AI showed Barack Obama wife; another featured Democratic leaders at a fake conference.
The White House replicated this approach by releasing an altered photo of the activist Levy Armstrong to some with digitally added tears, without informing about the manipulation.
The president himself has defended the practice lightly: “You have to have a little fun,” he said about a publication in which he appears dressed as the Pope. In parallel, officials from his administration operate accounts that promise to “continue publishing memes.”
Institutional expansion
The use of AI has spread beyond the president’s circle. The Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.promoted a Christmas campaign based on generated images; he ICE spread montages of immigration operations; and state officials and political rivals replicated the tactic in satirical or confrontational messages.
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AI also serves to amplify geopolitical ambitions, for example, amid its insistence on controlling Greenlandthe tycoon posted fabricated images of himself holding a flag on the island or reviewing maps where Canada and Greenland appear annexed to USA.
In recent studies—including one published in Nature—researchers warn that interactions with AI systems can influence electoral preferences. In this context, the administration found a low-cost, high-visibility, and enormous repeatability tool to shape perceptions and shift discussions toward areas where satire, spectacle, and simplification outweigh verifiable fact.
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