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This is not the first time that Donald Trump’s AI slop posts have ignited controversy.
But when he posted a depiction of Kharg Island being destroyed in a series of explosions, people had questions.
Is this some new attempt to threaten Iran during this disastrous war?
Is Trump even aware that the video isn’t real?
‘Kharg Island being blown to smithereens’
On Monday, August 31, Donald Trump took to his Truth Social account to post a bizarre video.
The clearly AI slop image depicted the destruction of oil storage tanks, docks, refineries, and more.
The video is from the point of view of inside of a helicopter, which surveys the catastrophic bombing of an island.
Though technological literacy and other context clues make it clear that the video is fake, that might not be apparent to some who might view the video and believe it to be real.
“Kharg Island being blown to smithereens,” Trump captioned the video, signing it: “President DJT.”
Trump posts AI slop with the caption, “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!”
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) August 30, 2026 at 10:23 PM
To start with, we should emphasize that not only is the video a fabrication, but it does not depict an actual event.
Kharg Island, a major oil refinery site for Iran, has not been destroyed.
Reports do say that Larak Island — another Iranian island — was bombed today. But that is, in fact, a different island.
Is Trump threatening Kharg Island and, more broadly, Iran with his post?
Did he confuse one island for another?
The name of the island the US bombed today is Larak. It is hundreds of kilometers from Kharg.
This is at least the second time Trump claimed the US destroyed Kharg Island. He’s also threatened to take it many times. US forces have not targeted Kharg Island since the first phase of the war in March.
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— Nicholas Grossman (@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social) August 30, 2026 at 11:45 PM
Does Donald Trump know that the video that he posted isn’t real?
At first, looking at the slop video of Kharg Island’s destruction appears puzzling.
Does Trump believe that the American people will believe that it’s real? (Iran, obviously, does not.)
Alternatively, is this his attempt at issuing a threat? He has done little else for six months as he expends America’s military resources and blows the Pentagon’s budget on this pointless war.
Then, a more creeping fear sinks in: Does Trump know that the video is fake?
Probably. He probably knows that the video is not real. Though he has in the past expressed confusion over AI slop and even simple photo editing that is not meant to deceive, Trump hopefully knows that the video isn’t real. But it’s sad that we even have to wonder.
Trump: “My preference has always been to take Kharg Island. I don’t know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with it. You’d make a fortune.”
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) June 11, 2026 at 8:54 AM
The recent coverage of Natalie Harp and her feverish devotion to Trump has been just one part of a larger conversation about Trump’s tenuous connection to reality.
Even early during the Iran War, Trump would refer to supercuts of destruction of military targets in an excited tone, like a young child describing what he’d just seen, as if unaware that these clips were edited to appease him.
It is probably not good, on any level, that we have doubts as to whether Trump knows which island the US military just bombed or whether he is lucid enough to know when a video is AI slop or authentic.
(Today, he also posted a demand for Americans to love AI data centers. Presumably, this was at the urging of tech influencers who are desperately fighting a sea of hard-earned ill will while hoping to delay the popping of the AI bubble for a few more months.)
We live in a dismal timeline. Not the darkest, however. We could have all of this and also Spencer Pratt as LA mayor. Thankfully, that is not the case.
Things could always get worse — but they could also get significantly better. We don’t have to live this way.
