Updated July 2, 2026, 9:04 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump targeted some of his celebrity critics in an AI-generated video that used their names and likenesses.
In the video, posted on X on July 2, Trump appears as a doctor “treating” several A-listers for what he has long called Trump Derangement Syndrome, a term he and his allies use to describe critics they view as irrationally opposed to him.
The AI-generated skit features the likenesses of Robert De Niro, Julia Roberts, Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O’Donnell, John Leguizamo and Edward Norton.
“Have you or someone you know been diagnosed with TDS? The symptoms can be relentless,” an AI-generated version of Trump says in the video. “Fortunately, I’m Dr. Trump and I have a treatment plan. Let’s hear what some of my patients have to say.”
The video then cuts to an AI-generated version of O’Donnell sitting in an examination room saying, “I have been suffering for over a decade and after listening to Dr. Trump, I can see some results.”
Their feud dates back to 2006 when she was a host on “The View” and has escalated in recent years with O’Donnell citing Trump’s reelection as the reason for her moving to Ireland and Trump threatening to revoke her citizenship, with the administration calling her a “threat to humanity.”
“Man, I’ve been suffering for years. I didn’t believe there was help out there,” says an AI-generated version of Leguizamo, who has long condemned Trump, his policies and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
USA TODAY has reached out to representatives of O’Donnell, Leguizamo, De Niro, Roberts, Goldberg and Norton for comment.
AI Trump says the celebrity patients ‘were so far gone’
In the video, AI Dr. Trump says he wasn’t sure he could help the patients because “they were so far gone.”
“I really thought I was a lost cause. This was going to affect me for the rest of my life but after using the treatment plan, I can see a difference,” AI Goldberg says in the video.
“I couldn’t sleep I was constantly angry I made everyone miserable around me,” AI De Niro says.
AI Roberts then says she feels like she’s aged 20 years in the past two years because of TDS.
Dr. Trump then delivers his official treatment plan, saying, “turn off fake news, say your prayers, and if you ever feel anxious, have a Diet Coke like me and you’ll see a difference.”
Experts warn AI deepfake videos on celebrities can be harmful
AI and deepfake expert Henry Ajder warned that AI usage of a celebrity’s likeness, including deceased people, is not necessarily “dangerous” but can distort views of public figures and their legacies.
“In the future, is it going to be harder for us to say this happened or this didn’t happen? Even if the videos are not meant to be malicious, they can still pollute the information space,” Adjer recently told USA TODAY while discussing recent AI videos of Princess Diana, who died in 1997.
Social media consultant Matt Navarra notes that some of these videos can create a “harmful dynamic,” even if they aren’t obviously defamatory in a sexual or political nature. He told USA TODAY that the volume of these videos could “distort cultural memory.”
“Younger audiences in particular may encounter authentic archive footage and fabricated footage in exactly the same vertical feeds. One silly video probably doesn’t rewrite history, but thousands of synthetic videos can slowly muddy the visual record,” he said.
What is ‘Trump derangement syndrome’ about?
Trump and his administration have long used the term “Trump derangement syndrome” when referring to some of the president’s critics.
Early in the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump’s team accused then-President Joe Biden of having TDS after Biden said Trump’s rhetoric echoed Nazi propaganda.
The term iterates an earlier version of the term — “Bush derangement syndrome” — coined by prominent conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer.
Before his death in 2018, Krauthammer wrote a column describing the evolution of the term for Trump as having “not just general hysteria about the subject, but additionally the inability to distinguish between legitimate policy differences on the one hand and signs of psychic pathology on the other.”
Trump used the term in December 2025, following the fatal stabbings of Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner. In a Dec. 15 Truth Social post, the president said Reiner’s death was “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through… a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
Contributing: Jennifer Hassan and Fernando Cervantes Jr., USA TODAY
