Conservative influencers are preemptively blaming deepfake technology right before rumors began circulating online this week about a potentially damaging video featuring former President Donald Trump.
The fervor started yesterday afternoon.
Hours later, a prominent left-leaning account alleged that footage showing Trump groping a minor would soon become public.
So far, no such video has surfaced. But Trump’s biggest supporters have already debunked it, saying that if any video is released, it will undoubtedly be a fake developed with artificial intelligence (AI).
Conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec unequivocally proclaimed that “they” will publish a deepfake of Trump “saying something he didn’t.”
“Screenshot this,” he boldly said.
Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk also weighed in and urged his followers to ignore the impending “fake AI generated crap” regarding Trump.
“You are about to see insanely desperate stuff from Democrats. Expect fake AI generated crap about Trump coming soon. Stay focused AND VOTE!” he said.
Former Fox News host Glenn Beck issued a frantic warning as well, but argued that a deepfake could just as easily be used to damage Harris as it could Trump.
“WARNING: DO NOT BELIEVE any video or audio that comes out in the last few days of the 2024 election, even if it fits your worldview,” Beck wrote. “Deepfakes have already been used to manipulate elections around the world, usually in the last few days so there’s no time to reduce the damage.”
On the flip side, left-wing users on X are arguing that the preemptive defense from Trump’s biggest cheerleaders must indicate that a video is actually on the horizon.
“Half of MAGA twitter is laying the ground work to frame some damning video of Trump as a deepfake…” one user said.
Although the prophesized video of Trump is thus far nowhere to be found, damaging accusations involving the former president have come to light.
As reported by the Guardian on Wednesday, a former model named Stacey Williams has said that Trump groped her in 1993 after being introduced to him by deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The Trump campaign has denied the allegations and says the story “was contrived by the Harris campaign.”
People online immediately poked holes in the story, though, noting that her timeline did not match up.
“The liar in this story claims that she went on a walk with Epstein in 1993 by his Upper East Side home when he took her to see Trump. There’s only one problem which is that Epstein didn’t move there until 1996,” wrote Greg Price.
While no evidence exists for any alleged video as of now, prominent journalist Mark Halperin claimed that a campaign-ending story regarding Trump is being shopped to media outlets, which could have helped spark the rumor. But Halperin followed up by noting that he did not believe the story was true.
Either way, it’s unlikely that any video, no matter how legitimate and damaging, would have any effect whatsoever on Trump’s loyal base.
Ironically, the uproar on Tuesday also coincided with a report from Microsoft that indicated Russia has developed deepfake videos portraying Harris in an unfavorable light. One of the reported deepfakes purportedly showed Harris making a “crass” remark about the assassination attempt against Trump.
This post has been updated.
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