Trump uses shutdown to troll Democrats with deepfake memes about layoffs

(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Friday defended President Donald Trump continuing use of social media to troll Democrats during the government shutdown, threatening targeted cuts and posting two deepfake videos featuring Project 2025’s co-author as the “Grim Reaper” and another mocking House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

In one post late Thursday, the president posted an AI-generated video depicting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought as the “Grim Reaper” while the administration threatens mass layoffs of federal workers and cuts to what Trump calls “Democratic Agencies.”

Trump met earlier Thursday with Vought, who co-authored and heralded Project 2025 the conservative policy playbook that has advocated for firing federal workers and the elimination of federal agencies.

“Russ Vought is the Reaper. He wields the pen, the funds, and the brain. Here comes the Reaper,” a voice sings in the video as Vought is depicted walking through the Capitol dressed as the character depicting impending doom.

Hours after the post, Vought posted on X that he was going to withhold federal funding for transit infrastructure projects in Chicago, a Democratic run city that has been the source of complaints from Trump.

Vought earlier in the week withheld funding for transit infrastructure projects for New York and New Jersey, also Democratic-run states.

In another post, Trump highlighted another AI-generated video of himself trolling House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries with a “TRUMP 2028” hat while they appeared to negotiate in the White House on Monday.

It was on Monday that Trump also posted an AI-generated video that depicted Jeffries with a fake mustache and wearing a sombrero in a Mexican stereotype.

Jeffries, who called Monday’s video “racist” and “bigoted,” was asked about the latest deep fake on Friday morning in an interview on MSNBC.

“It’s further confirmation that Republicans are the ones who were clearly determined to shut the government down because everything that President Trump has done subsequent to Monday has been unhinged and unserious. In fact, Donald Trump is in the presidential witness protection program,” the minority leader said.

“No one can find him when it comes to the government shutdown issue because he knows he’s responsible for having caused it. And the behavior, the erratic behavior that we’ve seen, is further confirmation of that unfortunate fact,” he added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed Jeffries’ comments during a briefing Friday, calling them “ridiculous fodder.”

ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked, “The president has described this as an unprecedented opportunity to lay off additional workers. He’s posted a video likening it to the Grim Reaper. Which is it? Is this an opportunity to fire more workers or an ‘unfortunate consequence'” (as Leavitt has called it).

“He likes to have a little fun and both can be true at the same time,” Leavitt responded. “We don’t like laying people off. Nobody takes joy and if you think that, that’s very sad you view the White House and our staff as wanting to put people out of work. Nobody wants to do that but sometimes in government, you have to make the tough decisions.

Leavitt, however, dodged questions if the federal layoffs could happen after the shutdown ends.

Vice President JD Vance has defended Trump’s memes, contending on Wednesday that they were simply jokes to make fun of Democrats. He said he didn’t understand how Jeffries could consider the video Trump posted on Monday as racist.

Republicans on the Hill have argued that the federal workers are suffering the most during the government shutdown and have pushed Democrats to reopen the government to protect their jobs.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has echoed that message and claimed that Vought does not want to get anyone fired if he can avoid it.

However, he also defended the president’s memes when asked about them on Friday.

“Are they taking great pleasure or not? No. Is he trolling the Democrats? Yes. Because that is what President Trump does and people are having fun with this. But at the end of the day, the decisions are tough,” Johnson said.

“The effects are really serious on real people, real Americans. We support federal employees who do a great job in all of these different areas, but what they’re trying to have fun with, trying to make light of, was to point out the absurdity that is the Democrats position,” he said.

“And they are using the memes and the tools of social media to do that. Some people find that entertaining, but the decisions are hard ones and they are not taking any pleasure in that,” Johnson added.

Legal experts argued the Constitution and federal law allow only Congress to declare cuts to federal agencies or remove them entirely.

The White House has not provided more details on the legality of Trump’s threats, nor has it responded to questions as to how firing people who are not getting paid would cut down on waste.

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.

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