Democrats are wasting time pretending to be offended by social media memes while letting the government stay shut down.
‘There’s no fear’: Residents respond to government shutdown
President Trump and congressional Democrats are blaming each other for the lack of an agreement that led to the federal government being shut down.
I can’t say I ever saw myself writing a column about sombreros, but here we are.
Amid the shutdown showdown, President Donald Trump started off the week by posting a deepfake video of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. In the video, they say derogatory things about Democrats, and Jeffries is depicted wearing a sombrero and a mustache. Mariachi music plays in the background.
Trump followed up the next day with a similar post, mocking Jeffries for taking umbrage with his original post.
Welcome to “sombrero-gate.”
Democrats keep grandstanding about the shutdown
Rather than ignore the president’s absurd digs (or, heaven forbid, just laugh it off), Jeffries and other Democrats immediately pretended they were outraged, calling the videos “racist.”
Democrats forced the federal government into a shutdown Oct. 1 when they refused to sign on to a measure that would keep the government funded for the next few weeks as both sides work out policy disagreements. Instead, they wanted to grandstand on extending Obamacare subsidies and reviving Medicaid perks that the One Big Beautiful Bill did away with earlier this year – including some that benefit illegal immigrants and other noncitizens.
Trump and Republican leaders refuse to consider renewing the Medicaid measures that don’t favor citizens, and they want to make Democrats defend their lax policies on immigration – something that proved to be a key issue in the 2024 election.
Thus, apparently, Trump’s sombrero deepfake.
JD Vance laughs off Trump’s video. So should Democrats.
The “controversy” from the artificial intelligence-generated video made it all the way to the White House briefing room on Oct. 1 when Vice President JD Vance was asked about it.
His response? Laugh it off.
“I think it’s funny,” Vance said. “The president’s joking. And we’re having a good time. You can negotiate in good faith while also poking a little bit of fun at some of the absurdities of the Democrats’ positions, and even poking some fun at the absurdity of the Democrats themselves.”
In addition to their feigned shock and horror, Democrats have responded to Trump’s deepfakes by … sharing their own.
Jeffries posted a deepfake video of Vance looking ridiculous on X and wrote: “JD Vance thinks we will surrender to the Republican effort to gut healthcare because of a Sombrero meme. Not happening Bro.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has also gotten on the bandwagon, sharing a deepfake of Vance as an Oompa-Loompa. Newsom also posted a photo of Trump as a bosomy Marie Antoinette and a more distasteful deepfake of Vance on a couch, which has crude sexual connotations.
(As an aside, Newsom can only post these “deceptive” political parodies because a law he signed trying to ban them was overturned as unconstitutional earlier this year in court. Oh, the irony.)
The internet has not been kind to Vance. He laughs that off, too.
Lest you think Vance only has good humor when others are on the receiving end of jabs, take a look at how the VP has handled nearly a year’s worth of unflattering memes.
Social media can’t stop spreading AI-generated photos of Vance as a large-headed baby, an emo rocker, the painter Bob Ross and a toddler with a lollipop, among many others.
Vance’s response? He thinks those are funny, too. He’s even leaned into it, responding recently to a post on X with one of the memes.
The altered photos of Vance are just as ludicrous as the videos of Jeffries with a sombrero.
Democrats should take a cue from Vance. Not everything has to be patently offensive. Sometimes, it’s OK just to laugh.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques