President Donald J. Trump on Monday posted a highly irreverent AI‑generated video portraying Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D‑NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D‑NY) in a Mexican dressed caricature. The video depicts Jeffries wearing a sombrero and mustache, standing silently beside “Schumer,” whose voice (clearly fabricated) rails:
“Look guys, there’s no way to sugarcoat it. Nobody likes Democrats anymore. We have no voters left because of all of our woke, trans bullsht. Not even Black people want to vote for us anymore. Even Latinos hate us. So we need new voters, and if we give all these illegal aliens free healthcare, we might be able to get them on our side so they can vote for us. They can’t even speak English so they won’t realize we’re just a bunch of woke pieces of sht, you know? At least for a while, until they learn English and they realize they hate us too.”
Trump shared the video on both Truth Social and X, igniting a firestorm.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2025
This provocative post comes amid high drama in Washington, where a government shutdown looms unless a funding deal is reached by Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. The video adds yet another twist to a fractious negotiation — just hours after Trump met with the two Democratic leaders in the White House.
The response from the Democratic side was swift but weak. In response to the video, Minority Leader Jeffries posted a genuine photo of Trump with the late Jeffrey Epstein, captioned simply, “This is real.” The message was clear: the video was fake, but the associations he invoked were very real.
When MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell asked Jeffries whether that would suffice as his full response, the leader said:
“Leader Schumer and I will have more to say … But again, this is all designed to be a malignant distraction from people who are determined to continue to rip health care away from the American people. … Democrats are resolved to stand up for it.”
He characterized Republican claims that Democrats plan to provide federal healthcare to undocumented immigrants as “baseless.” Jeffries concluded:
“We will continue to defend the health care of everyday Americans.”
Schumer, for his part, blasted Trump’s approach to negotiation:
“If you think your shutdown is a joke, it just proves what we all know: You can’t negotiate. You can only throw tantrums.”
If you think your shutdown is a joke, it just proves what we all know: You can’t negotiate. You can only throw tantrums. https://t.co/d1QrMSeAh7
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 30, 2025
Under current Senate rules, Republicans need at least seven Democratic votes to pass any funding measure. In March, Schumer drew fire from his own party for helping Republicans pass a six-month continuing resolution that offered little in return. That bill now expires again.
Schumer has insisted any spending legislation include extension of COVID-era premium subsidies for health insurance — a nonnegotiable point for many Democrats.
Notably, the video was posted just hours after Schumer and Jeffries left their meeting with Trump. That meeting was described as unresolved, with “very large differences” still separating the sides.
On the eve of a government shutdown Trump is shitposting. https://t.co/maEHuaSiIn
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) September 30, 2025
Funny but it’s the truth!!!!!