The White House is being called out for confusing two Black lawmakers in its attempt to troll Democrats on its official social media account.
The White House shared “Halloween costume inspiration” on X, featuring “costumes” of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance alongside their Democratic rivals, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The costume depicting Jeffries, 55, shows him wearing a sombrero and includes “one filibuster speech no one remembers.”
In July, Jeffries delivered a record-breaking speech on the House floor. But filibusters only exist in the Senate, and officials were likely referring instead to Sen. Cory Booker’s 25-hour speech torching the Trump administration in April, which broke the record for the longest filibuster-like address in history.
Eagle-eyed X users also took notice of the oversight in the meme, which was posted Tuesday.
“Does the intern running the white house page not know Hakeem Jeffries and Cory Booker are different people,” one X replied to the post, which has racked up 1.4 million views as of Thursday morning.
“They do know. It’s intentional,” another replied.
The hat Jeffries sports in the post stems from a “racist” sombrero meme Trump posted earlier this month to troll Jeffries.
The president’s AI-generated video depicted Jeffries and Schumer speaking outside the White House. The video portrayed the House Speaker with a handlebar mustache and a sombrero while mariachi music played in the background.
At the time, Jeffries branded the deepfake as “disgusting,” furiously telling reporters at a press conference on Tuesday: “Mr. President, the next time you have something to say about me, don’t cop out through a racist and fake AI video. When I’m back in the Oval Office, say it to my face.”
Defending the problematic meme, Vance told reporters at the time that the sombrero-wearing images of Jeffries would stop—provided he helped Republicans reopen the government.
“The president’s joking, and we’re having a good time,” Vance told reporters when asked about the meme, which Democrats had branded as bigoted.
The sombrero was referenced twice in the White House’s controversial post. In the costume description for Schumer, 74, it reads: “Includes: your money given to illegals, life subscription to performative outrage. Not included: sombrero, spine.”
Jeffries, Booker and the White House did not immediately respond to request for comment
This isn’t the first time the New Jersey senator has been mistaken for Jeffries. Earlier this year, Democratic Rep. Jonathan Jackson quickly deleted a photo of himself shaking hands with Booker, 56, captioned, “Democrats stand behind Rep. Jeffries.”
