The former president and chief operating officer of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino wasn’t thrilled with Donald Trump’s surreal re-imagination of the Gaza Strip as a luxury real estate mecca in a bizarre AI-generated video Wednesday.
Jack O’Donnell, when asked by CNN anchor Erin Burnett whether Trump is “serious” about the idea, replied that he wasn’t—but said it was nevertheless “scary” how Trump’s imagery resembled the way dictators have often portrayed themselves.
“No, he’s not serious about this. I think he’s amused by it, and I think he knows it will get a reaction from people, and that’s what he wanted to do here,” he said. “This is theater, and I don’t think he’s serious, although I think he does love the image that it portrays of him, as some sort of savior.”
The fake video was complete with a golden statue of Trump, along with AI versions of Elon Musk enjoying a variety of foods and Trump sunbathing shirtless on the beach with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
O’Donnell said the golden statue is what Trump sees himself as.
“And others have done this—other dictators. Mao did it, Kim Jong Un still does it, Saddam Hussein,” he said, referencing the former Chinese Communist Party chairman, the Supreme Leader of North Korea, and the former Iraqi president.
“It’s scary, for one thing, but it’s also comical because this is the United States,” O’Donnell continued. “But the thing that surprised me most about the video is, we know how vain he is, and there’s actually a scene in here where he’s sitting on the beach, and he’s rather rotund in it.”
A number of Democratic lawmakers also found Trump’s AI-generated video depicting post-war Gaza as an opulent tourist destination insensitive to the Palestinians who once called the land home.
They also said it compromised the ongoing peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
“I’m a very big supporter of Israel, and I think Israel has every right and responsibility to defend itself. But when a president goes and does something like that — it’s despicable. It really is. It makes things more difficult on the ground … for everybody,” California Rep. Juan Vargas said, according to The Hill. “They just did something that’s really way below the character and nature of the presidency.”
New York Rep. Greg Meeks also condemned the president for using his official Instagram and Truth Social accounts for sharing the video.
“I cannot believe a president of the United States could ever put something on their official [social media account] on that. And we are to take that man seriously?” the senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said, The Hill reported.
Trump’s promotional video follows his comments earlier this month that the U.S. will “take over” the Gaza strip and assume control of the Palestinian territory that Israel has occupied for decades. As part of his plan, the president tasked countries like Jordan or Egypt to house the two million Palestinians.
“It is absolutely ridiculous and insulting to me, and I think to anybody that understands history — that understands the complications of trying to get a true peace in the Middle East,” Meeks added.
He pointed out that Trump’s morphed vision of Gaza largely excluded the Palestinian people who live in the region.
“It is nonsense,” Meeks said. “It does not take into consideration that Jewish people have been put off their land and moved forever and finally they got a homeland — [and] the idea is not to do the same to the Palestinians and put them off their land.”
In a statement provided to NBC News, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said: “As President Trump has said, Gaza in its current state is uninhabitable for any human being. President Trump is a visionary, and his plan to have the United States involved in Gaza’s rebuilding will allow for Palestinians to resettle in new, beautiful communities while improving conditions in the region for generations to come.”
The outlet reported that the AI-generated video appears to have been initially posted by a number of pro-Israel social media accounts.
