An apparently AI-generated video of Donald Trump licking and caressing Elon Musk’s toes played on a nonstop loop Monday the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Washington D.C., according to multiple media reports.
The all-caps message read “Long live the real King,” a reference to Trump’s recent Truth Social post in which he declared, “Long live the King,” accompanied by a drawing of himself with a crown on his head.
Reaction online included suggestions that someone buy the hacker “all the beers” to @USMCLiberal’s tweet, “Pam Bondi is probably launching an investigation into who insulted Trump.” Another person joked that Musk himself would show up to chainsaw the monitors, following the SpaceX founder’s brandishing one at CPAC as he bragged about cutting “inefficiency” in government spending.
Since Trump began his second term on Jan. 20, the ubiquitous presence of the tech billionaire has raised eyebrows and inspired a still trending “#PresidentMusk” hashtag. Musk’s exact status in the administration is murky after the White House said on Feb. 18 that Musk is not actually an employee of DOGE — Department of Government Efficiency, the newly created department that has been slashing federal jobs right and left.
On Feb. 12, Musk, accompanied by his four-year-old son, held forth at length about his policies to reporters while a largely silent Trump sat at his desk in a press conference dubbed “surreal” by a French newspaper, a “toxic bromance” by UK outlet The Guardian and “the most powerless image of a president” by MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell.
Trump’s pick to lead HUD, Scott Turner, was confirmed on Feb. 5. The former NFL player and Texas state rep was confirmed in a 55-44 vote, with two Democrats backing him, Vermont Sen. Peter Welch and Pennsylvania’s Sen. John Fetterman.
