Todd Spangler, Variety:

In an AI-generated video Trump shared on his Truth Social platform Saturday evening, the U.S. president is depicted as a king in a fighter jet dropping what appears to be a large amount of fecal matter on protesters below. In the 19-second video, the president is in a fighter jet marked “King Trump,” and he is shown wearing a crown sitting in the cockpit. (The oxygen mask that “King Trump” wears does not fully cover his nose and mouth.)

Jenny Gross at The New York Times chose to describe it as “dropping a brown liquid resembling feces onto the heads of protesters,” adding that “Mr. Trump regularly reposts A.I.-generated or mocked-up imagery on his Truth Social account,” as though this is a perfectly reasonable thing for a President of the United States to do. No critique or condemnation, just continued sane washing.

Former Republican and Navy Veteran Jack Hopkins wrote:

The world watched a so-called leader—Donald Trump—post an AI video of himself in a fighter jet… dumping shit on his own citizens. It wasn’t satire. It was a mirror.

As Jill Filipovic quipped on X/Twitter:

King Trump taking a shit on America is certainly a message.

Many of the retorts focused on the shit dumping. What really struck me wasn’t the “brown liquid,” the crown, or even the flight mask not covering Trump’s nose (lol). No, my takeaway was the bombing imagery itself. I wrote on Mastodon in response to the video:

This is a bombing fantasy: he’s acclimating us to the idea of dropping bombs on US citizens by making a “funny” shareable meme. Millions will see it and laugh or be outraged, but are one beat closer to accepting the idea of an air strike in American cities. I’m confident a version with real bombs was considered and dismissed as “too soon.”

Trump has used war imagery before, and he and his team are escalating their use of “king” motifs. Trump’s team may not have created this video, but by sharing it, they are continuing their attempts to inculcate us. They desperately want us to accept two decidedly un-American ideas: Trump as “king,” and military-style attacks on Americans.

Hopkins also wrote that this video “normalizes violence as entertainment”:

Using artificial imagery to depict harm against citizens desensitizes followers. It trains the public to see aggression as humor… rebellion… or strength rather than as moral collapse.

Every repetition moves the boundary of what’s “acceptable” political expression.

This is how authoritarian propaganda evolves…from outrageous joke to operational doctrine.

This is the nature of propaganda: to repeatedly introduce abhorrent ideas in an effort to make them seem normal—expanding the Overton window so that what was once “unthinkable” is perceived as merely “radical,” and eventually, even “acceptable.” With enough exposure, we become accustomed to the absurdities.

It’s imperative that we recognize these photos and videos for what they are. We must not dismiss them as mere “memes” or “masterful trolling.” The Trump regime is telling us who they are: autocratic wannabe dictators and military strongmen hell-bent on attacking their country’s citizens.

Also: that they’re full of shit.