The president’s recent deployment of artificial intelligence to create and disseminate mocking videos of perceived political opponents has been embraced by members of his inner circle and allied lawmakers, according to reporting by CNN, even as the practice generates concern among legal experts, civil society groups and international partners. The strategy is taking shape amid heightened public attention ahead of the 2025 elections and ongoing CNN polling that is tracking voter reactions to campaign tactics and the broader political environment.

Support from top aides and allied politicians appears to reflect a calculation that the tailored, viral nature of AI-produced media advances campaign messaging and consolidates base enthusiasm. Allies argue that the technology is merely a new form of political satire and rapid messaging in a media ecosystem already saturated with manipulated and partisan content. The administration’s apparent comfort with the tool signals a willingness to normalize synthetic media as a weapon of political communication rather than an aberration to be constrained.

That normalization has prompted warnings about erosion of democratic norms. Legal scholars and election experts say synthetic content aimed at private citizens and public officials could run afoul of state defamation laws or of campaign finance and disclosure rules if produced as part of coordinated political activity. Platforms that host the material face a dilemma: enforce existing policies that ban deceptive deepfakes and synthetic misinformation, or allow them under the banner of political expression. Enforcement decisions will reverberate across borders, where other governments are watching for precedents that could either restrain or embolden authoritarian impulses.

The international implications are stark. Allies who have publicly supported the president’s approach risk creating diplomatic awkwardness when U.S. leaders simultaneously tout norms of responsible state behaviour. At a moment when Washington asserts influence on issues such as the war in Ukraine, the use of provocative synthetic media complicates messaging to partners in Kyiv and NATO capitals. It also feeds adversaries’ narratives about declining American civic standards, potentially lowering the bar for imitation by regimes that already employ disinformation as a tool of repression.

Regulators and policymakers in the United States and Europe have begun to confront the challenge of synthetic political speech. The European Union’s AI Act and other regulatory frameworks seek to impose safeguards on high-risk AI systems, but enforcement timelines and jurisdictional limits mean gaps remain. In the U.S., legislators have debated options from transparency mandates to platform liability changes, but partisan divisions make swift federal action uncertain.

As the campaign season progresses, the interplay between public acceptance, platform responses and potential legal scrutiny will determine whether AI mockery becomes an entrenched instrument of American politics or a transient tactic subject to pushback. The broader consequence is not only domestic: how democracies choose to govern synthetic media now will shape international norms and influence whether technology amplifies civic discourse or corrodes the foundations of political trust.