CUSHION THE BLOW

Newsom Trolls JD Vance With Unhinged ‘Couch Intimacy’ AI Video

The false claims about the vice president and couches went viral in the 2024 election campaign.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has trolled JD Vance with a bizarre AI-generated video in which the vice president defends his love for couches in a fake TV interview.

The Governor Newsom Press Office X account, which has taken to ridiculing MAGA figures online, targeted the vice president while mocking the Republican over unearthed photos of him wearing a dress and blonde wig at Yale.

It also finds inspiration from the viral but baseless claim that Vance wrote about having sex with a couch in his Hillbilly Elegy memoir.

“Yes, there’s a photo of me in drag from a college party, and that’s normal. Everyone experiments in college, costumes, makeup, whatever, totally normal,” Vance said in the deepfake clip. “But what I don’t understand is why people are so obsessed with this other thing, couch intimacy.”

“Look, couches are comfortable, they’re dependable. They support you when you’re down. If you can’t appreciate that kind of bond, maybe you’re the one with issues.”

The couch joke went viral in the run-up to the 2024 election, with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz even referencing it on stage after he was confirmed as Kamala Harris’ running mate to rapturous applause and laughter.

Elsewhere in the AI clip, Newsom—who, like Vance, is being touted as a possible 2028 contender—also mocked the vice president over claims that he wears eyeliner and for demanding Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky say “thank you” to the U.S. during a heated Oval Office exchange in February alongside Trump.

“I feel so much better just being able to get this off my chest and give you piece of s--t internet bullies a piece of my mind,” the AI-generated Vance said in the clip. “Now grow up and go get a job.”

The video ends with a mock-up of Vance twerking in the blonde wig and dress. The original photo of Vance is believed to have been taken at a 2012 Halloween party at Yale Law School.

Newsom’s office posted the clip as Donald Trump—whose deranged, all-caps social media posting style the governor has been mimicking—has also been sharing unhinged and racist AI videos on Truth Social.

These include promoting a QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theory about “medbeds” and attacking Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.

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Trump also posted a racist clip mocking Jeffries, featuring the House minority leader in a sombrero and handlebar moustache alongside a deepfake of Schumer, falsely claiming, “nobody likes Democrats because of woke trans bulls--t,” and alleging the party provides undocumented immigrants free healthcare because it needs “new voters.”

The president later doubled down on his bizarre attacks by posting another AI video of Jeffries condemning the deepfakes. While the interview with Jeffries was real, it was edited to include an AI-generated mariachi band made up of multiple Trump figures, with a moustache and sombrero digitally added to Jeffries.

The Daily Beast has contacted Vance’s office for comment.

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