Deep Fake is the New Sick Burn
On low-budget campaign mailers & suspending disbelief.
Artificial Intelligence has come to the Lone Star State. Oh, the humanity.
In political campaigns, an increasingly popular form of AI is known as the “deep fake,” a tactic designed to fool our little baby brains into believing what is clearly false. This could involve altered photos, videos and recordings, or the insane number of texts I get from “Colin Allred” who claims to be “running for Senate.”
Here’s one such deep fake, a mailer targeting Texas Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan. If you don’t know who Dade Phelan is, that may or may not be him in the photo below.
This ad is wrong on so many levels, especially the use of the warm sepia filter, which should be reserved for Instagram photos because without it, that is one seriously unattractive family.
As detailed in the Texas Tribune, the Phelan mailer is one example that could result in legislation cracking down on this type of doctored imagery in political ads. Is legislation really necessary? Can’t we trust the voters? I’m obviously joking.
It’s hard to believe that a Phelan supporter is really going to see this and be like OH MY GOD, this changes everything! Wake up. Nancy Pelosi’s hand is almost twice the size of Phelan’s entire head. It’s definitely fake.
Phelan faces a May 28 runoff with David Covey, who has been endorsed by Texas leadership, which has been endorsed by vengeful demons. Covey describes himself as a conservative “warrior” but he looks more like some generic intern at Dell.
The campaign mailer was paid for by the Club for Growth Action PAC and bankrolled by billionaire Libertarian Jeff Yass who made his money playing poker. Apparently when he’s not playing high stakes strip poker, the gambling addict is deeply invested in education vouchers. He even gave a cool $6 million to Gov. Abbott on the condition that he be allowed to sleep with Demi Moore.
But seriously. This is what millions of dollars can buy? This mailer looks like it was done in Microsoft Paint. The photos are ridiculous, the sprinkling of blue text is nonsensical, and the quality of the paper looks underwhelming. Like Staples discounted copy paper underwhelming.
Let’s see if you can spot the deep fake below.
Trick question! They’re all deep fakes! Open your eyes, people!
That last photo is an obvious fake. Like I ever went to prom. And like I would ever wear a puffy-sleeved pink dress from Laura Ashley with white hose and matching dyed shoes. It’s as ridiculous as the moon landing.
(Deep fake. Sick burn. Up top.)
OMG, the blonde Andie Walsh.
Phelan’s district surrounds mine in Beaumont. This would be a fun contest to observe up close if indeed it was fun. It isn’t. No, the Speaker’s detractors even show the clip where Dade is allegedly drunk while presiding over the House. Like that is bad. Anti-Covey ads, I don’t know anymore, accuse him of kidnapping the Lindbergh child. At this point, I just want to go live in the woods. Oh, nice shot of the the astronaut on Enchanted Rock at night.