Arizona Tribune - Troll-in-chief Trump mocks Democrats over shutdown

From ambushing top Democrats with "Trump 2028" hats in the Oval Office to an AI-generated video of House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero, the social media onslaught has been extreme even by the Republican's standards.

But there is a serious strategy behind the socials -- don't negotiate, threaten mass layoffs and hope the Democrats cave in.

As the clock ticked down to the deadline for a first shutdown in nearly seven years, Trump seemed more interested in trolling than dealmaking.

Hours before the deadline on Tuesday, Trump posted three pictures on his Truth Social network of his meeting a day earlier with Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Jeffries.

In the foreground? Red "Trump 2028" hats placed on the iconic Resolute Desk, referring to a constitutionally banned third Trump presidential term. In one picture a grinning Trump is pointing at Jeffries.

Jeffries said the baseball caps "just randomly appeared in the middle of the meeting on the desk. It was the strangest thing ever."

It was an extraordinary stunt from a president -- even one who recently replaced a photo of his predecessor Joe Biden with a so-called "autopen."

Vance told Fox News on Wednesday that the Trump hats made Schumer and Jeffries "very uncomfortable."

But Vance insisted that they had also had a "very good conversation" on the shutdown row, before Trump gave up and accused Democrats of trying to take them "hostage."

- 'Lighten up' -

Far more controversial was Trump's posting on Monday of an "AI slop" video of Schumer and Jeffries outside the White House that the House minority leader branded "racist and fake."

It featured fake, AI-generated footage appearing to show Schumer using vulgar language and announcing plans to entice illegal immigrants with benefits, while showing Jeffries wearing a sombrero and bushy mustache as mariachi music plays.

Trumpworld doubled down on the video despite the accusations of racism.

Trump's son Don Jr. posted three crying-laughing emojis on X above a repost of a picture of Trump with the caption: "Tell them they have one hour or I will post them wearing another sombrero."

The White House meanwhile joined in the trolling. Footage of Democrats opposing previous shutdowns played on a loop on screens in the famed briefing room.

In a deeply polarized US political scene where winning the social-media war is at least half the battle, Republicans are hoping Trump's memes will be an effective weapon.

It may work, with Democrats still struggling on strategy and messaging after Trump's crushing 2024 election win.

"If you can't laugh at this then you epitomize the problem with the Democratic Party these days," Michael LaRosa, a former spokesman for Jill Biden, said on X about the hat stunt. "Let's all lighten up a bit."

Some Democrats have embraced a similar strategy.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, whose press office has deliberately copied Trump's abrasive, all-capitals style, said as the shutdown kicked in: "TRUMP ALWAYS CHICKENS OUT (T.A.C.O.). NO SOMBRERO NEEDED!"

But Trump's trolling of the Democrats also extends to serious, targeted threats.

Threatening mass firings during the shutdown, Trump said on Tuesday that "We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn't want. They'd be Democrat things."

A Siena/New York Times poll seemed to show US voters held both sides pretty much equally responsible for the shutdown, for now.

Of 1,075 people surveyed from September 22 to 27, 19 percent blamed Democrats in Congress, 26 percent blamed Trump and Republicans in Congress, 33 percent blamed both equally, while 21 said they had not heard enough to say.

Th.Gonzalez--AT