Tesla founder and rabid supporter of President Donald Trump Elon Musk shared a video late Saturday of what appears to be Venezuelans “crying on their knees thanking Trump” for his hostile takeover of Venezuela, but critics were quick to point out that Musk – as did many other prominent MAGA figures – appeared to have fallen for a “transparently fake” video.
Initially posted by right-wing influencer “Wall Street Apes” to their more than 1.2 million followers, the video depicts several apparent Venezuelans celebrating in the streets, with one thanking Trump for his administration’s attack on Venezuela while fighting back tears.
Musk would go on to share the video on his own social media account, but critics were quick to point out that the video was almost certainly generated with generative artificial intelligence, claims that were later supported by X’s own crowd-based fact-checking service known as “Community Notes.”
“Notice how all of the shill accounts went mega viral using fake videos,” wrote X user “Murray,” a political commentator with nearly 300,000 followers.
“This is the new preferred tool to manufacture consent and brainwash the populace. How much more evidence do you need to realize you’re being bombarded with a coordinated propaganda campaign?”
Others, like X user “Oliver Darko,” also a frequent political commentator with nearly 2,500 followers, noted that actual videos of Venezuelans in the wake of the Trump administration’s attack and takeover were far “less entertaining.”
“People keep posting these fake AI generated videos about Venezuela because the real videos are less entertaining,” they wrote, alongside a video of Venezuelans lined up outside a grocery store that was captured by Dutch freelance journalist Thomas van Linge.
Despite numerous MAGA influencers’ online posts, there is no evidence of widespread celebrations in Venezuela. Among Americans, U.S. military action in Venezuela is also wildly unpopular, with a recent CBS News/YouGov poll showing that 70% of Americans were against the Trump administration taking military action in the South American nation.
Right-wing grifter account with 1,200,000 stupid followers gets 37,000 reposts for a transparently fake AI video depicting Venezuelans celebrating Trump. Maybe many of the followers are bot accounts. If they’re real, Baudrillard was right…. https://t.co/UDBQ9b6VTY. https://t.co/VqZiKoL16h — Steve Hall (@ProfHall1955) January 4, 2026
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