Social Media Manager: Samantha McCarthy
Email: smccarthy12@umassd.edu
Employees of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) arrived to a bizarre sight in their offices on Monday, February 24th: an AI-generated video of President Donald Trump kissing billionaire Elon Musk’s feet.
A user on X shared the shocking video with the caption: “WOW! This actually just happened! The monitors were hacked at HUD to display an AI video of Trump licking Elon Musk’s toes.”
The video, captioned, “Long live the real king,” played in HUD offices as workers returned. This was after Trump’s return-to-office mandate, which pushed federal workers to return to their offices instead of working remotely. The caption seemingly references Trump’s recent Truth Social post, which was also captioned “Long Live the King!”
An unnamed HUD employee reported that they had to shut off all televisions manually in order to stop the video from playing.
HUD spokesperson Kasey Lovett told Forbes the video was “another waste of taxpayer dollars and resources” and that “appropriate action” would be taken.
Making fun of the dynamic between Trump and Musk, the video quickly spread across social media platforms. Since Musk has been appointed as one of the heads of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk and Trump have become closely tied in American politics, sparking opposition around the country.
With many federal workers either having their pay cut or being laid off, there have been protests around the country by those affected.
At a protest in Detroit just last week, The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) President Everett Kelley told the crowd outside the veterans hospital, “No one elected Musk, right? We need to tell Elon Musk it’s time for him to go.”
While many in-person protests held by government workers have been ongoing, employees are also stating their opinions online.
On Reddit page r/fednews, user Bright-Elements-254 writes, “I’ve heard so many people ask: WHY is Donald T. so hell-bent on destroying Federal workers? Because we are in his way. There is one thing standing between him and being King: the Constitution.”
User Practical-Ad-4888 replied to this discussion: “The federal government does the work of Congress. Firing federal workers means less push back from experts, also moves more power to the executive branch away from Congress.”
Because of the ongoing backlash from federal workers around the nation, this has led many to believe it was a federal employee that was involved in the video being played in the HUD.
In the days following the hack, HUD officials say the individual that is responsible has been identified and that legal action is being threatened. The individual’s identity was not released, but there are speculations that it is a current or former federal employee that had access to the television system.
“Yesterday, an individual was escorted off the property,” a HUD rep told The New York Post. “Legal ramifications are being explored. Additionally, termination or suspension of certain services are being explored as it relates to the department.”
Musk’s recent affiliation with DOGE has left HUD employees’ jobs threatened. According to HousingWire, DOGE’s plan is to cut the HUD workforce in half from 8,300 employees to just over 4,000.
Targeting employees tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, upwards of two million federal workers were assigned a “deferred resignation.” Many were told their termination was related to job performance, despite having exemplary reviews.
The individual was held accountable for acting in this method of protesting, but this does not appear to be the end of the fight between the executive officials and federal workers. Upcoming rallies for both current and former employees are taking place in the DMV area, along with the ongoing marches in Detroit.