The same AI meme strategy that helped President Donald Trump crush Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican presidential primary is now the very habit fueling concerns about his mental state, per his own biographer.
A Daily Beast review found Trump racked up over a thousand Truth Social posts in a single month, with AI-generated content ranging from a fantasy meetup with George Washington at his new White House ballroom to self-awarded military honors and a fabricated claim about striking Iran. The relentless posting has renewed calls for his removal under the 25th Amendment.
One of the most recent such posts is a cartoon of Trump in a hockey jersey, standing over Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney with a hockey stick while calling him "governor" — a reference to Trump's on-again, off-again obsession with making Canada a U.S. state.
Speaking on the Inside Trump's Head podcast, biographer Michael Wolff traced the origins of the habit back to a deliberate campaign strategy.
"The social media strategy is something that was ... very precisely developed," Wolff said.
Wolff described the operation as an informal group of online supporters, encouraged and occasionally funded by Trump's team, whose job was to crank out memes glorifying Trump. He credited that same approach with helping tank DeSantis's campaign back in 2023, painting the Florida governor as weak and fading while elevating Trump as dominant. Trump himself gloated about the win at the time, resharing a New York Times piece on DeSantis's online collapse and crediting his own platform for the victory.
Wolff argues the tactic keeps getting reused because it works, partly by stripping away the usual seriousness and formality of political messaging. But it's also repeatedly blown up in Trump's face, including past posts depicting the Obamas as apes and casting himself as Jesus.
Much of the current output is reportedly driven by White House aide Natalie Harp, who's credited with getting Trump to approve AI-generated content before posting it directly to his account. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.