All of the leading Democratic candidates are conventional enough that it would be fairly difficult to hit on something their deepfake could say which would be both plausible and irreparably damning. For all but the reflexively partisan Republicans who never would have voted for a Democrat regardless, these candidates’ vehement denial of a deepfake video would hold some weight. It would at least buy them time for an investigation. The content plausibility would be hard to get so precisely right that no one would be skeptical.
Not so with Trump. After “both sides” and “shithole countries,” would Trump saying the n-word when he believed himself to be speaking in private surprise you? After “fire and fury” and the Soleimani assassination, would a sudden attack on Iran be inconceivable?
This is why Trump strikes me as the more likely candidate for an election-swinging deepfake attempt than any of his Democratic challengers. He has lied so much and so pointlessly, and he has said and done so many reprehensible things, that even his defenders probably would not question a well-designed deepfake.
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