US Politics
White House releases bizarre ad featuring footage of Mad Men actor Jon Hamm, a Democrat
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Mad Men star Jon Hamm became the latest celebrity to be unwittingly featured in a White House ad.
The White House used a clip of Hamm, who has publicly endorsed and stumped for Democrats, in a 20-second video posted Saturday evening. “ALL WE NEEDED WAS A NEW PRESIDENT,” the tweet read. Hamm has not yet publicly commented on the ad.
The video began with what appeared to be an AI-generated image of President Donald Trump, who was smiling in a crowded room that glowed with a blue light. Above him, a caption read: “When someone says America is the hottest country anywhere in the world.”
As Trump turned his head, his face transformed into Hamm’s in a scene from Apple TV’s Your Friends and Neighbors. The actor danced euphorically, swaying with his eyes closed, in a club as Kato’s 2010 hit “Turn the Lights Off” played in the background. Memes of the scene have gone viral on social media.
The video then faded into a dark screen with an outline of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and a U.S. flag. Transposed on the image read: “The White House. Donald J. Trump.”
The video’s caption borrowed a familiar phrase uttered by the president, who has touted that since he returned to the White House in January, the United States has become the “hottest” country in the world.
He used the phrase as recently as Wednesday in an address on the economy.
“One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead. Our country was ready to fail. Totally fail. Now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world. And that’s said by every single leader that I’ve spoken to over the last five months,” the president said from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House.
The 20-second video has been viewed 1 million times on X as of Sunday morning. It was released one day after the deadline for the Justice Department to release the entirety of the Epstein Files in its possession. But lawmakers have accused the DOJ of heavily redacting the materials without explanation and failing to meet the deadline.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche admitted to Fox News that the DOJ missed the deadline to release all of the records. “I expect that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks, so today several hundred thousand and then over the next couple weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more,” Blanche told the network.
Social media users suggested the clip hailing Trump’s success was a “distraction” from the Epstein Files, which have plagued the president’s second term.
One user posted an image resembling a “Now That’s What I Call Music!” compilation album, replacing the words with: “Now that’s what I call a distraction from the Epstein Files.”
“RELEASE ALL EPSTEIN FILES NOW,” another said, along with an image of Epstein with Trump.
Yet another remarked: “ALL WE NEED WAS ALL EPSTEIN FILES.”
Another attached images of the heavily redacted files and quipped: “Yeah we still need a new President.”
The White House has previously used other celebrities in its ads. Earlier this month, it used snippets of pop star Sabrina Carpenter, mere days after she slammed the administration for using her song “Juno” in another ad promoting deportations. She called the deportation ad “evil and disgusting,” and the White House later removed it.
It comes one month after fellow pop singer Olivia Rodrigo criticized the Trump administration after the Department of Homeland Security posted an Instagram video soundtracked by her “All-American B****” to promote its deportation efforts.
Rodrigo replied: “Don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda.” The comment was later taken down.
