Donald Trump’s presidential campaign released a new video late Friday—the first since the former president was indicted on federal charges over his alleged mishandling of classified information and obstruction of justice. But if the audio sounds familiar, that’s because it’s been taken from a popular movie. And if the images look a little weird, that might be because they include a fake photo of Trump created using artificial intelligence.
The video, first spotted by Axios reporter Alex Thompson, was posted to Truth Social and includes a monologue from actor Matt Damon delivered in the movie Air about Michael Jordan and the creation of Nike’s famous shoe. To make things even more weird, Trump’s camp didn’t bother to get permission to use the audio, according to a new report from Axios.
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“Money can buy you almost anything, except immortality. That you have to earn,” the monologue from the new video says while viewers see footage of Trump walking in slow motion.
The video continues with an inspirational monologue, which stresses that the true test of a person isn’t when they’ve become a hero but when they’ve been torn down. The footage shows Trump, including a still photo that might be familiar. The photo, seen below, is actually a fake image created with artificial intelligence tools. Trump shared the fake image back in March on Truth Social, and I debunked it not long after the former president first posted it.
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As I explained at the time, the fake photo includes some telltale signs that it was created with a computer, including the fact that Trump’s right knee is directly behind his left foot, a jaw-dropping act of contortion that would be virtually impossible for the elderly Trump to do in real life.
To make things even weirder, it appears Trump didn’t get permission to use the monologue. Artists Equity, the production company owned by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, told Axios on Saturday that it did not approve of using the audio at all.
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“We had no foreknowledge of, did not consent to and do not endorse or approve any footage or audio from Air being repurposed by the Trump campaign as a political advertisement,” a spokesperson for Artists Equity told Axios.
It appears the video was first created by someone who runs a Patreon that goes by Il Donaldo. It’s not immediately clear if the video creator has a formal relationship with the former president, but Trump has previously used community-created videos for his own fundraising efforts.
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