Recently, the wave on the U.S. political stage can be said to be one wave higher than one wave.
On October 19, local time, U.S. Vice President Vance made an operation on social media that stirred up the already chaotic U.S. politics.
In this short film generated by artificial intelligence, former President Trump is portrayed as a monarch holding a sword, while former Speaker of the House Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Schumer bow and kneel in front of him. This is extremely provocative. As soon as the video was sent out, it was like hot oil poured into boiling water, and the number of relevant discussions exceeded tens of millions in just a few hours.
To say how sensitive this matter is, look at the situation in the United States at the time, you know. the federal government from October 1 "shutdown" shutdown, to the 19th has been delayed 18 days, the eye is about to hit the record of 2013 shutdown, becoming the second longest government shutdown in the history of the United States.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are either forced to go on unpaid leave or to work under the pressure of “dry-and-dry work,” with national park doors locked, passport processing windows closed, and even the drug approvals at the disease control centers climbing slowly like a snake.
What's more, the day before, October 18, the United States had just exploded-nearly 7 million people took to the streets to participate in the "No King" protests. From the streets of Manhattan, New York to the Municipal Plaza in Los Angeles, protesters held the slogan "We don't want the monarch" and denounced the Trump administration's policies for eroding the foundation of democracy.
The protest covered more than 2600 locations in 50 states. Even Senator Bernie Sanders was personally present to support it. There were also signs raised outside the U.S. embassies in Berlin and Rome in support. The scale was the largest in the United States in 60 years. One of the demonstrations.
Vance threw out the video at this time, which was like throwing matches into a powder keg. The drama of "monarch and kneeling" in the video just hits the pain point of "Trump's autocracy" that protesters most dislike. Some political commentators bluntly said that this is not political ridicule. It is clearly stepping on the bottom line of public sentiment and pushing the already tense confrontation between the two parties higher.
Political bullshit in a double crisis: oil poured into the fires of a halt and protests
Wance’s AI video can trigger such a tremendous shock because it has stumbled on two of America’s most painful wounds at the moment – an endless government shutdown and growing national protests, both of which have long been annoying Washington.
The root cause of this government shutdown is the bitter confrontation between the two parties over the budget for the new fiscal year. According to U.S. rules, Congress must pass a new budget before October 1 every year, otherwise the government will be "out of food."
This year, the Republican House of Representatives first threw out a temporary appropriation bill, which not only wanted to support the funds until late November, but also hid a thought-specifically cutting project funds in Democratic areas. Nearly $28 billion in funds were frozen in areas such as clean energy and power grid transformation alone.
The Democrats rushed to the Senate and directly rejected the bill; in turn, the Democratic budget proposed to preserve health insurance subsidies, increase social spending, and was backed by the Republicans.
To make matters worse, the White House made harsh remarks at the end of September, saying that if the talks could not be reached, large-scale layoffs would be carried out, instead of regular unpaid leave, which directly turned the budget dispute into a power struggle of "no one lets anyone" and the negotiations completely stuck.
The trouble caused by the shutdown has penetrated into the lives of ordinary people. food tickets for low-income families have begun to be issued with delay, kindergarten and school lunch subsidies have been broken, and local governments can only pay for emergency funds themselves; airport security inspectors have resigned because they do not get their wages, and flight delays in several cities have risen to three times the usual rate;
More shockingly, the CPI data originally released by the Labour Ministry on September 15 was postponed, and the Federal Reserve Chairman Powell was eager to say that it can only rely on the data of private institutions to assess the economy, and can not replace government statistics at all.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent is more directly counting the bills, which would cause the U.S. economy a loss of $15 billion a day, faster than burning money.
Just as the public’s grievances were about to blow up, the October 18 “No King” protest came.In Washington’s march, a number of unpaid federal employees with “unpaid protesters” stamps went forward, and in the crowd of protesters in cities like Chicago, Houston, and others shouted the slogan “reject authoritarianism”.
Organizers said that this protest attracted many people even in Hongzhou, 2 million more people than in June.
At the same time, Wance’s AI video came out. The picture of the Democratic party’s humiliation spread, and the two parties thought of the fragile negotiations completely disappeared. Schumer was angry in the Senate, accusing the Republican party “do not talk, use AI to blame”; the Republican House Speaker in turn bit a bit, saying the Democratic party “was kidnapped by the protesters and didn’t want to solve the problem at all.”
Before there was a short-term allocation scheme that was hoped to be passed, so that in each other's streets completely yellowed, and the government's stalled impasse became stronger.
The political logic behind the horror: dual interpretation of AI weapons and power games
Some people wonder that Vance is a vice president after all, and it is impossible for him not to know the risks of causing trouble at this time. Why did he jump into the fire pit? In fact, considering the current political chaos in the United States and the mentality within the Republican Party, the calculation of this dangerous move is clear, and the impact of this matter has long gone beyond the scope of quarrels between the two parties.
From the inside of the Republican party, the wave of Wans operation is obviously "watch loyalty". to know, Trump himself has always been addicted to the AI evil play, just on October 17, he also sent an AI video, himself wearing the crown of the fighter, to the protesters' heads "give mud".
Vance followed and posted the video at this time, obviously trying to follow Trump's temper and get closer. Moreover, the Republican Party is trying to describe the "no king" protest as "causing trouble by the extreme left." Vance's video portrays the Democratic leader as a "kneeling person", which can help exaggerate this statement and stabilize the fundamentals of conservatives.
But looking deeper, what this incident exposes is a big problem in American politics-AI is becoming a new "political weapon", and the so-called * system is slowly being eaten by this "mutual pinch game".
Wans's video is not an individual case, Trump's "blowing mud" video, a synthesis of the Democratic leader wearing a Mexican grasshat, all intentionally provoked the counter-emotion.
This kind of gameplay can attract attention in the short term and make supporters shout good, but over time, the two parties will not be able to sit down and talk about things, turning politics into a zero-game of "life and death", and in the end, it is the common people who suffer.
What is even more worrying is that AI videos are mixing "true" and "false" into a pot of porridge. Although both Vance and Trump said it was a "joke", how can ordinary people so easily distinguish which ones are real pictures and which ones are made up by AI? Previously, some media said that there are many contents that are difficult to distinguish between true and false, and people's trust in politicians will only get lower and lower.
Now that the government is shut down and protests continue, the destructive power of this inflammatory video has doubled-many protesters are even more excited after watching the video, and the Washington police have to send more police forces for fear of an accident.
At present, this political farce in the United States is not over yet. The government shutdown has entered its 19th day, and neither party is letting anyone else go, and the losses of 15 billion yuan a day are still compensated. Although the protests have been temporarily suspended, the organizers have already announced that a larger demonstration will be held a week later.
The AI video thrown by Vance is like throwing a stone into the chaotic water, and the waves stirred up are still expanding around.
No one can say for sure where this technology-fueled political conflict will eventually drag the United States.
But one thing is certain: when politicians use AI as a tool to swear people, compromise as a shame, and when the government shuts down and leaves ordinary people without food and jobs, it is ordinary Americans who are wronged in the end, and the fragile foundation of * in the United States has been worn thinner and thinner in this farce.
Source of information:
Watch the news: "Do not the king" protests spread across the U.S. Trump released AI video provocation
Observer Network: Primary school students fight? "No King" protests swept across the United States, Pelosi tore up the crown at a rally, and Vance posted an AI video "Trump ascends the throne and Pelosi kneels down"