On Oct. 18, 2025, millions of people across the U.S. attended their local "No Kings" protests, demonstrations against what they believe to be increasingly
Afterwards, a rumor that the president posted the video below circulated widely.
Generated by artificial intelligence, the video depicted Trump wearing a crown while flying a fighter jet with the words "King Trump" painted on its side. As the jet flew over city protests, it dumped loads of a brown substance. The video then cut to the ground, where the substance landed on protesters, including Democratic social media influencer Harry Sisson. Reports have described the brown substance as "brown sludge," "apparent human excrement," a "poop-like substance," or something that "appears to be feces."
Snopes readers wrote in asking whether Trump had really posted the AI-generated video.
The claim was true. Trump posted the video on Truth Social, his social media platform, on Oct. 18.
The video contained a watermark with the username "@xerias_x." That user, the video's apparent originator, posted it about six hours before Trump, writing in a caption, "President Trump makes a quick appearance at the No Kings Protest."
The X user's bio describes the page's output as "AI + Video Edits" and "Satire." We reached out to @xerias_x to ask about the video, and we will update this report if we receive a response.
On Oct. 19, the day after Trump shared the video, Sisson posted on X, "Can a reporter please ask Trump why he posted an AI video of himself dropping poop on me from a fighter jet?"
Vice President JD Vance replied to Sisson's post, saying "I'll ask him for you Harry."
"Just add me to the Signal chat I'll ask him myself," Sisson replied,
A journalist asked House Speaker Mike Johnson about the AI-generated video on Oct. 20.
"The president uses social media to make the point. You can argue he's probably the most effective person who's ever used social media for that," Johnson said, according to Politico. "He is using satire to make a point. He is not calling for the murder of his political opponents."
The video used the Kenny Loggins song "Danger Zone," originally released on the soundtrack for the film "Top Gun," as audio.
On Oct. 20, Loggins released a statement on his website about the video. "This is an unauthorized use of my performance of 'Danger Zone.' Nobody asked me for my permission, which I would have denied, and I request that my recording on this video is removed immediately."