Iran has been turning Donald Trump’s own communication tactics against him with a series of AI-generated videos which have taken the internet by storm. A recent example features a cover of a French hit from the 80s and has raked up more than 8 million views since its publication...
Welcome to the age of online content warfare. We’d rather be in any other timeline.
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Ever since Donald Trump launched the war on Iran with joint US-Israeli airstrikes on 28 February, Iran has trolled the White House with a barrage of AI-generated propaganda videos.
These clips have featured Lego-style figurines, “LOSER” and “Get lost Goldilocks” slogans over gangster rap beats, Trump as Captain Jack Sparrow in a new feature film presented by “Pedoflix”... It's seemingly never-ending slop designed to give Trump a taste of his own medicine.
Indeed, Trump has heavily relied on AI-generated visuals and pop culture pilfering antics to ridicule his political adversaries and marginalised groups – something Kurt Sengul, a researcher at Macquarie University in Australia, ferred to as “memetic warfare” when speaking to Euronews Culture.
The troller-in-chief has shared rage-baiting videos and images of himself as the next Pope, a jedi, Superman, a king dumping feces over protesters and Jesus – a recent image which has drawn criticism from his own MAGA base to prominent members of the Catholic Church.
Now, he’s being hoisted with his own AI-sloppetard, courtesy of a group of pop culture savvy activists creating satirical content which is resonating online, judging by the millions of views.
The X page for Explosive Media, subtitled “Iranian Lego-style animation team. Fast, Instant, Explosive”, produce their Trump-trolling efforts which speak to a huge audience. In their propaganda videos, they demonstrate their literacy when it comes to Western cultural references and aesthetics.
Some are irked by this 21st century online warfare, as the videos make light of a real war with immense loss of lives; some official government accounts have shared these AI videos, responding in kind to the White House posting a video of real American attacks spliced with clips from movies and video games.
The most recent example is an AI-generated, 80s-style music video shared by the Iranian embassy in South Africa, featuring Donald Trump singing about the Strait of Hormuz blockade - all soundtracked to a cover of the 1989 hit song ‘Voyage, voyage’ by French singer Desireless.
The video, mocking the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz ordered by a mullet-sporting Trump, is titled ‘Blockade, blockade’. It features lyrics like “I will never give you up / The Strait of Hormuz must be shut” and “Blockade, blockade / I thought this was easy-peasy / Now MAGA & Melania leave me / Surrender is beneath me.”
As of writing, it has racked up 8.6 million views, showing that this trolling communication strategy is depressingly effective.
Once again, videos like these mirror the style of those shared by the White House and Trump on Truth Social, and show that Iran has understood its adversary. At least understood how attention economy works.
A sad indictment of modern geopolitical communication? Without a doubt.
Has Trump been completely outmanoeuvred in the trolling wars he started? At least, he’s been matched.
As for the ‘Voyage, voyage / Blockade, blockade’ video, Desireless singer Claudie Fritsch-Mentrop has spoken out, and she’s not best pleased at being cast as a propaganda tool.
“I've had it all,” she told French broadcasters BFMTV, adding: “I refuse to let anyone use my song without my consent, let alone politicians.”
The less said about the fact that those behind the video probably didn’t pay royalties, the better.
The slopaganda wars continue... And if anyone knows the entrance to the alternative dimension poet ee cummings was referring to when he wrote “there's a hell of a good universe next door; let's go”, do share.
