As the US government barrels toward a shutdown, President Donald Trump shared a racist video on social media, which appears to be AI-generated, depicting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a sombrero and a mustache and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaking in a fake voice.
Jeffries and Schumer met with Trump just hours before at the White House to discuss the looming shutdown.
In the video, Schumer is depicted as arguing for undocumented immigrants to get “free healthcare” because minority voters hate Democrats and they could use the votes in the next election.
As mariachi music plays in the background of the video, the fake Schumer voice says, “There’s no way to sugar coat it: Nobody likes Democrats anymore.”
The fake voice goes on to echo false GOP claims about Democratic policies and slam liberal leaders as “woke.”
The video was posted on Trump’s X account as well his official Truth Social account. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Shortly after Trump posted the video, Jeffries wrote on X, “Bigotry will get you nowhere. Cancel the Cuts. Lower the Cost. Save Healthcare. We are NOT backing down.”
Schumer followed moments later, commenting on X, “If you think your shutdown is a joke, it just proves what we all know: You can’t negotiate. You can only throw tantrums.”
The White House meeting between Trump and the two Democratic leaders also included Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson. It ended without a deal. Government funding is set to run out Tuesday at Midnight. Democratic leaders have demanded negotiations on health care funding in exchange for keeping the government open.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Schumer called Trump the ultimate “decision maker” and said, “If he will accept some of the things we ask, which we think the American people are for on healthcare and on rescissions, he can avoid a shutdown, but there’s still large differences between us.”
In the social media post, Trump offered a glimpse of his mindset towards Democrats, whom he ultimately needs to keep the government open.
Earlier at the White House, Jeffries stressed that Democrats want to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies. Meanwhile, Republicans want a clean funding bill to push through Congress to keep the government open as negotiations continue. The subsidies don’t expire until the end of the year.
“More than 20 million Americans are on the brink of experiencing dramatically increased premiums, co-pays and deductibles because of the Republican refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits which benefit working class Americans,” Jeffries said. “Working-class Americans, their health care, that’s what we’re fighting to preserve, to defend and to strengthen.”
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