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Speculation that ‘stroke signs’ may explain alleged Trump ‘AI video’ miss the point

On 11 September, we reported on a White House video in which Donald Trump seemed to launch a ‘war on the left’. In that same article, we noted some believed the video of Trump showed signs of AI or digital alteration. Later that same day, pictures emerged of Trump at a 9/11 memorial in which he appeared to be suffering from ill health effects:


Things became increasingly confused when a Sky News video from the same day featured Trump without any pronounced facial drooping.

We’re not sure quite what’s going on at this point, but we are sure of one thing; Trump released a video in which he used spurious claims and slander to argue for a crackdown on the left.


ChAIn of events

Let’s be clear about one thing: Trump’s White House address video did not look unedited:

Issues with it include:

  • The lighting and colouring seem off.
  • Trump moves in an odd fashion.
  • There’s a sudden skip at one point.

Do this mean it’s AI? Not necessarily.

The colouring could be high contrast by design; Trump’s odd movement could be explained by a low frame rate; the skip could just be an edit. It could also be the case that AI is being used to smooth things out and make Trump look different but it’s a filter rather than a full recreation.

Compare this comment:


To this one:

We can also report that regardless of what’s going on, it’s not the first White House address to have the same visual hallmarks. The following videos are from two days ago, Wednesday 10 September:

Looking through the other videos that the White House has posted to YouTube, we can’t find instances of them using this same setup. So they’re definitely doing something new; it’s just not clear precisely what’s changed.

What is clear, though, is that Trump and others are using Charlie Kirk’s death as an opportunity to spread disinformation and further clamp down on their political enemies:


Trump’s health

Speculation about the video being AI went into hyperdrive after Trump appeared with an obviously drooping face:


As noted, Trump later appeared looking considerably different. This is becoming something of a pattern now.

As Al Jazeera noted, people recently believed Trump to be dead after he showed several signs of failing health and then disappeared for several days. As they noted:

Although Trump had no public meetings, his schedule was not suspended as some users claimed. The White House continued to publicly release and chronicle meetings and actions.

But some on social media persisted. They pointed to photos of Trump’s swollen ankles and bruised hands, and a July letter from his doctor diagnosing Trump with chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition that can cause leg swelling. It is not typically life-threatening.

Given that Trump keeps returning looking mostly as he has done in the past, the question must be asked: is Trump experiencing unusual health issues? Or is he simply experiencing the regular amount of poor health you’d expect from a 79-year-old man who lives off fast food and works in a high-stress job?

Again, it’s not entirely clear, but these are the sort of questions which emerge when the most powerful country in the world repeatedly elects septuagenarian presidents.

One thing that is clear, though, is that Trump is still the guy in charge, and he’s still spewing the same hypocrisy as ever:


Oh, and this is his son by the way:


And these are his followers:

This exchange, meanwhile, completely gives the game away:

Distraction tactics

There’s so much going on at once these days that it’s easy to become distracted. No one is better at distracting people than Trump, because everything around him seems chaotic and fraudulent. While suspected AI / health concerns are definitely worth commenting on, in this instance the key thing to watch are the political moves being made to capitalise on Charlie Kirk’s death.

Featured image via C-Span

By Willem Moore

This post was originally published on Canary.