• Donald Trump has posted AI-generated images of himself with George Washington and World War II generals to Truth Social in recent weeks.
  • The Washington images depict the pair in what appears to be Trump’s planned White House ballroom; another shows Trump in military uniform flanked by Generals Patton and MacArthur.
  • The posts come as Trump’s approval ratings hit the lowest levels of his second term and he works to reach a deal with Tehran to end the war with Iran.
  • Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters, said the posts reflect Trump’s desire to “be a founder,” while the White House said Truth Social “serves as President Trump’s authentic voice.”

President Donald Trump has in recent weeks posted a series of AI-generated images of himself alongside George Washington and other historical American figures on his Truth Social platform, as his approval ratings hit the lowest levels of his second term and he works to reach a deal with Tehran to end the war with Iran.

The Washington posts began earlier this month. Trump posted an AI image of himself and Washington standing side by side in what appears to be an imagining of Trump’s completed White House ballroom. A minute later, he posted three more AI pictures of himself and Washington in the ballroom. In one image, the pair looks into the middle distance; in another, Trump holds a piece of paper and points at the ceiling.

The next day, Trump posted an AI image of himself and Washington sitting at a table, holding quills over what appears to be a map. Three minutes later, he posted an image of the pair on horseback — Washington on a white horse, Trump on a black horse. There was no caption on either post.

Sunday’s post was a video showing Washington and Trump walking through the ballroom, taking turns pointing to the ceiling as if appraising the room’s construction.

Trump, 80, has also posted an AI image showing him wearing a military uniform, flanked by Second World War generals George Patton and Douglas MacArthur on a battlefield. In the image, two tanks appear to be on fire in the background, and Trump wears six rows of medals on his chest, more than Patton and MacArthur are shown with combined.

The posts come as Trump faces questions over reports of poor living conditions and morale aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln following its record-breaking deployment, and as he works to reach a deal with Tehran to end the war with Iran.

The ballroom has at times appeared to be among the president’s main interests during his second term, and he has repeatedly returned to the topic in social media posts. Trump has said he wants the ballroom to serve as a “legacy project.”

“I think part of the reason he’s posting it is because it ties in with this deeper sentiment that he has that he is on par with, or even potentially better than, George Washington,” said Angelo Carusone, president and CEO of Media Matters, a non-profit media watchdog organization.

“He’s trying to basically be a founder,” added Carusone. “And AI gives him the ability to project his imagination out into the world.”

The Guardian asked the White House whether Trump thought he had actually met with Washington, who died more than 200 years ago. A spokesperson did not directly address the question, but responded: “Truth Social is the most powerful and popular social media platform in the world [sic] because it serves as President Trump’s authentic voice, where he communicates directly with the American people [sic] and the world without the biased media taking him out of context.”

“Every day in Washington DC the city changes and gets more Trump-branded,” Carusone said. “That is the analog to Washington: there are all these things named after him, but that happened posthumously. With Trump, it’s almost like he’s building a living mausoleum.”