Why is Trump sharing an AI video of Gaza?

Americast

BBC

Politics, Government, News

4.2 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Donald Trump sparked a social media frenzy on Wednesday when he posted a video of Gaza generated by artificial intelligence on his site Truth Social. Marianna's been analysing Trump's social media strategy and how he attempts to influence what we see on our online feeds.

Meanwhile, the fallout from Elon Musk's email to federal workers over the weekend continues. Musk asked all federal workers to list their accomplishments to him an email, and defended his actions at the first meeting of Trump's new cabinet earlier today.

Justin and Marianna assess the two stories and what risks could lie ahead for the president.

HOSTS: * Justin Webb, Radio 4 Presenter * Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Correspondent

GET IN TOUCH: * Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB * Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 * Email [email protected] * Or use #Americast

This episode was made by George Dabby with Catherine Fusillo and Claire Betzer. The technical producer was Philip Bull. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.

You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.

US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155

Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including The Global Story, The Today Podcast, and of course Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.

The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd The Today Podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, AmeriCasters. There are more of you now with us than ever before, and we'd like to try to keep it that way.
0:06.6	So, do subscribe and tell people if you're enjoying what you're hearing. Now, on with the episode.
0:13.4	BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts.
0:17.0	So we're going to talk about two very important stories today.
0:23.4	One of them is mine and one of them is Justin's.
0:39.0	My one, which you might have guessed if you've been scrolling on social media at all on Wednesday, which is the day today, is this video, an AI generated video of the war zone in Gaza turned into a holiday resort, that Riviera that Donald Trump had spoken about, which is a way of us discussing his social media strategy.
0:43.5	And mine is going to be Elon Musk and what he's doing to the US government.
0:47.5	And whether we are reaching a stage where people begin to fight back and fight back in an
0:53.6	organised way. In other words,
0:54.9	that we might have got to peak Trump. Not necessarily saying we have, but it's an interesting
0:59.0	discussion point. And there are various things going on behind the scenes involving Elon Musk
1:04.0	that are hugely interesting. And the point being, Mariner, we endlessly talk about so much going on
1:09.7	and it's quite a good thing, actually, I think, to focus on two things and to focus on those two things really matters and leave all the rest for another day because there'll be plenty of other days.
1:20.7	Is that how we beat flooding the zone? Maybe.
1:23.4	And, of course, it's coming exclusively from the worldwide headquarters today, because it's just me and Justin.
1:28.9	Welcome to AmeriCast.
1:32.3	AmeriCast from BBC News.
1:35.4	God spared my life for a reason.
1:38.8	Only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.
1:43.1	A star is born, Elon.
1:45.0	I'm not just Maga.
1:46.0	I'm dark Gothic Maga.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.