‘Heartbreaking images out of Florida’ meme uses AI alligators, Goofy to riff on conservatives duped by fake Helene photo

AI images and memes are flooding the internet after Hurricane Milton hit, mocking a viral moment after Hurricane Helene when a prominent Donald Trump bundler got duped by an AI picture. 

“I can’t believe the images I am seeing coming out of Florida today,” posted @RationalBlonde on X over an image of an alligator comforting a crying little girl on a boat while rain falls heavily overhead.

As North Carolina was ravaged by Helene, Amy Kremer, who helped organize former President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 speech before the Capitol riot, shared a picture showing a crying girl in a boat holding a bedraggled puppy as they navigated the muddy flood water.

“This picture has been seared into my mind. My heart hurts,” she wrote. 

When people criticized her, noting it was AI, she wrote “Y’all, I don’t know where this photo came from and honestly, it doesn’t matter. It is seared into my mind forever.”

That image still circulated heavily in conservative circles online as evidence of the type of people the Biden-Harris administration was leaving behind, with complaints about money going to Ukraine and Israel instead of hurricance victims.

The new crop of AI memes circulating after Milton are mocking it, sharing aliens rescuing puppies and Disney characters rescuing girls. 

“Heartbreaking images coming out of Florida,” wrote one poster, showing a girl holding a dinosaur. 

Riffing on Kremer’s botched tweet though, isn’t new to Milton. One reply to her post after Helene that blew up showed, instead of a girl saving a dog, a dog saving a girl.

But the meme wasn’t the only AI art to come out of Milton. 

One poster, instead of heartbreaking, went for defiant, sharing an image of a brave young kid carrying an American flag while sitting on the back of an alligator, staring into the driving wind and rain.

Over on Facebook, more earnest AI memes populated the site.

A common theme called for prayers for Florida and showed the state protected by a pair of God’s hands.

There was also a sincere Disneyland-related meme that was posted on a few pages.

“It’s time to close the castle Minnie! Take cover, wait and pray!” it quotes Mickey Mouse as saying, over an image of the cartoon rodent couple staring at a looming storm over the Disneyland castle.

Back on, X there were less sincere images of Mickey helping out while the theme park filled up with floodwater. Even a guy who some posters identified as an AI Ron DeSantis got into the act saving puppies.

“This is the most ‘Florida; AI I've ever seen,” commented @BcTall. “Not a single thing makes sense!”

Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.