As the Trump administration insists it is serious about negotiating an end to the government shutdown, a pair of racist deepfake videos mocking Democratic leaders played on a loop in the White House briefing room for hours on Wednesday.
The videos, posted by Donald Trump on his social media platform on Monday, use fabricated audio to make it seem as if the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, called Democrats “woke pieces of shit”, and showed the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, with a fake mustache and sombrero.
JD Vance, the US vice-president, made light of the tactic during a rare appearance in the briefing room. “I think it’s funny. The president’s joking and we’re having a good time. You can negotiate in good faith while also making a little bit of fun at some of the absurdities of the Democrats’ positions, and even poking some fun at the absurdity of themselves.
“I’ll tell Hakeem Jeffries right now, I make the solemn promise to you that if you help us reopen the government, the sombrero memes will stop. I’ve talked to the president of the United States about that.”
Jeffries has denounced the memes as racist. Vance retorted: “I honestly don’t even know what that means. Like, is he a Mexican American that is offended by having a sombrero meme?”
The clips, both set to Mexican mariachi music, are intended to drive home the administration’s false claim that the Democrats are demanding health insurance subsidies for unauthorized immigrants as a condition for funding the federal government.
In fact, Democrats want to ensure that funding is provided to Americans who rely on Affordable Care Act subsidies to purchase health insurance. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for those subsidies.
Democrats have also asked to reverse a provision of the Republican tax and spending bill that stripped the health benefits of lawfully present immigrants, including refugees with temporary protected status and noncitizens who were brought to the US as children and were previously eligible for federal benefits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) designation.
The fabricated words put in Schumer’s mouth are presented as an admission by the Democratic senator of a far-right conspiracy theory promoted by white supremacists – that Democrats want to give government benefits to undocumented immigrants from Latin America as part of a plot to replace white voters with immigrants who will then vote for Democrats.
The so-called “great replacement” theory has been cited by a number of shooters who have carried out racist mass shootings, including the gunman who killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019, and another who murdered 11 congregants at the the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. The conspiracy theory also prompted torch-carrying, white supremacist marchers at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 to chant: “Jews will not replace us.”
After Jeffries called the first video racist, Trump posted a second clip, of the Democrat calling the fabricated video “disgusting”, in which the sombrero and mustache are again added to the congressman, and a mariachi band featuring four versions of Trump plays in the background.
David Smith, Guardian Washington bureau chief, contributed reporting
