Dem
47
GOP
53
Tuesday evening, on his boutique social media site, Donald Trump reposted a bizarre AI-generated video that ostensibly expresses his vision for Gaza. The creator of the video is unknown, but Trump liked it enough to repost it. Does it depict Gaza rebuilt (using Saudi money) as part of a peaceful Palestinian state? Well, no. More like "ethnic cleansing can be beautiful!" In case you have forgotten, ethnic cleansing is a war crime. Here is the video; it is only 33 seconds. But first look closely at the three still images below before starting the video, which moves very fast from scene to scene.
The fake video starts with scenes of the current destruction, then morphs into something that could be a mix of Miami Beach and Qatar except the shot of the scantily clad woman in the night club might not be a good fit for Qatar. The video depicts Teslas driving though the streets of Gaza, Elon Musk eating what appears to be a cupcake and a bowl of hummus, bearded Hamas militants belly dancing in bikinis, a child with a golden Trump balloon, Trump awkwardly dancing (?) with a woman, dressed in just her underwear, with very long hair, Musk throwing money in the air for little kids to grab, the Trump Gaza hotel, a giant golden statue of Trump, the hotel gift shop (naturally) and finally, a clip of Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu lounging topless at the hotel pool. In case you've never dropped acid, now you have an idea what it's like.
Our first take was: "Omigod. AI has gotten very good at producing fake videos." This one was so over the top that the fact that it is fake is pretty obvious. However, a more plausible fake—say, Hunter Biden accepting a white envelope (presumably of cash) from Chinese President Xi Jinping—could fool a lot of people.
The first take from Arab and European countries was not marveling at how good AI technology has become. It was more that displacing civilian populations violates international law and would bring even more instability to the region. Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty spoke about the "inalienable rights of the Palestinian people." Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called it "unacceptable." U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the Palestinians "must be allowed home."
Is Trump serious here, or is he just trolling everyone? It's hard to say with him, but the logistics of moving almost 2 million people would be nearly impossible without the full strength of the U.S. Army, which would probably refuse an illegal order. And where would they go? No Arab country wants them. The political blowback in the U.S. would be dramatic. Still, Trump loves anything that gives him attention and this video certainly does. (V)