Nia-Malika Henderson, Columnist

Trump’s Deepfake of Obama Is Meant to Change the Subject

The president is playing some of MAGA’s favorite songs at just the moment his base seems in danger of splintering.

July 22, 2025 at 9:30 AM UTC

Nia-Malika Henderson is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former senior political reporter for CNN and the Washington Post, she has covered politics and campaigns for almost two decades.

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It is both sad and unsurprising that President Donald Trump posted a deepfake video of former President Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office. Battling for position with his MAGA base, which is furious over his inaction on the so-called Epstein files, Trump has resorted to an old tactic: distraction. He has raised another conspiracy theory to change the subject away from a different conspiracy theory.

But in sharing the video, which was created by another user, he is sinking to a new low, even for the president who encouraged crowds to chant “Lock her up!” about his 2016 political opponent and has repeatedly smeared the “Biden crime family.”