A A few weeks ago, Donald Trump decided it would be fun to accuse US Vice President Kamala Harris of using AI in images of a large crowd greeting her at an airport. “Did anyone notice Kamala CHEATING at the airport?” Trump tapped angrily on his phone. “There was no one on the plane and she ‘AI’d it (…) She should be disqualified because creating a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Anyone who does that will cheat at EVERYTHING!”

Just as some animals are more equal than others, some politicians are more fair. So when the former president himself posted an apparent AI-generated image of what appears to be the back of Harris’s head in front of a massive communist crowd this week with a giant hammer and sickle hovering over them, he presumably didn’t consider it election interference. Trump has also recently shared AI-generated images of himself, Elon Musk, and Taylor Swift.

These images are concerning – especially since most image generators have restrictions on creating content of real people. But it doesn’t seem like Trump is trying to pass off the images as real: I think he’s trying to funny.

Someone on the Trump campaign learned how to use an AI image generator and got a little speed-happy. A strange video of Trump and Elon Musk dancing together is hardly an example of the kind of election-manipulating deepfake media that many disinformation commentators worry about. is an example of a candidate desperately trying to stay on your algorithm. AI generation only requires a few prompts and maybe a paid subscription to a generator. It is a lot cheaper and faster than hiring creatives who have to spend time thinking and creating before something is ready to publish.

AI-generated images and deepfakes are the poor man’s meme. Truly successful memes – humorous pieces of content designed to be spread online – are created by individuals who have adopted the language and culture of the internet and know how to inject zeitgeisty topics into social posts designed to resonate and go viral. Combining text with images or video is a subtle art, and it’s one that Harris’ campaign team has mastered. Everyone online knows about the coconut tree, and those who are chronically online know Charli xcx’s accolade that “Kamala IS brat”.

In contrast, the AI ​​posts Trump has been sharing aren’t high internet humor; they’re cheap algo fodder. One trick he’s also tried is combining AI images with real ones in an attempt to lend them some credibility, or perhaps just to sharpen their comedic potential. In his post where he says “I accept!” next to images suggesting that Swifties “turn to Trump,” he’s combined a real photo of a woman wearing a “Swifties for Trump” T-shirt with a satirical AI compilation of fans wearing T-shirts with the same slogan and an AI-generated image of Swift as Uncle Sam, captioned “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.” It’s the kind of content your family’s idiot uncle might forward to you, who in turn got it from his buddy because they have nothing better to do.

Trump doesn’t expect or need Swift’s support, so the humor lies in its implausibility. Posts like this aren’t about convincing the public that Swift supports him; they’re about ensuring that the intravenous drip of content in his supporters’ Facebook groups and WhatsApp conversations never runs dry. Trump has also always been a wind-up merchant. He knows Swift’s fans will react angrily to his post. He also knows that such outbursts of anger will amplify his content in Truth Social and X’s algorithms—and gain traction in the mainstream media. When people point fingers at him for posting content like this, some see it as a righteous war on misinformation, but to his fans, it feels like they’re missing the joke. (Of course, jokes are easier to understand when they contain at least one meager crumb of decent humor.)

The idea that Harris is a communist, that Trump and Musk are dance buddies, and that even Swifties can’t escape Trump’s fandom fits the narrative of popularity, relatable levity, and prestige that Trump likes to cultivate. Story matters far more than truth, especially in the US, where political ideology is so powerful that it was one of the primary factors in whether someone would take the Covid-19 vaccine. Trump’s AI messages are best understood not as outright disinformation—meant to be taken as truth—but as part of the same heady mix of true and false information that has always characterized his rhetoric. Trump isn’t interested in telling the truth; he’s interested in telling are truth – as do his most ardent supporters. In his world, AI is just another tool to do this. Whether he’s willing to accept the reality that he can’t take a joke, or even take one, is another story.