A child running through a sea of rubble, golden statues of Donald Trump, Elon Musk dancing amid raining dollar bills, and the Israeli prime minister lounging on a beach with the U.S. president.
Those are all scenes in a video shared on February 26 by the official accounts of President Donald J. Trump.
Although there was no evidence the video was made by anyone connected to the White House, its sharing through several official accounts appears to suggest support for the vision for ‘Trump Gaza’ depicted in the clip.
A vision for ‘Trump Gaza’
The AI-generated video starts out with a view of ‘2025 Gaza’ — a desolate, urban landscape littered with the debris of war in all directions.
The video then asks: “WHATS NEXT?”
Cranes suddenly appear over the skyline, where some skyscrapers are already visible. Just a few seconds into the video, viewers are given a series of shots depicting luxury beachfronts lined with modern glass buildings, a smiling Elon Musk dining outdoors, and bearded belly dancers performing in the sand.
Shots of busy thoroughfares even showed several Tesla cars — Musk’s automotive company — driving by thriving streets lined with tall palm trees. In other shots, a child holds a giant golden balloon of Trump’s head, private yachts moor at a seafront resembling Dubai, and the President of the United States dances with a performer wearing minimal clothing.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and advisor to Trump, appears to send money raining down on thrilled passersby in several clips. One of the most talked-about frames in the hours after the video was shared sees Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu lounging side-by-side on beach chairs at the ‘Trump Gaza resort’, cocktails in hand.
The entire video is set to a ‘Trump Gaza’ anthem, which features lyrics such as “Donald’s coming to set you free, bringing the life for all to see, no more tunnels and no more fear, Trump Gaza is finally here”.
Although the video was likely created by someone unconnected to the administration, it visualises what Trump has publicly stated he would do if he controlled the war-stricken Palestinian territory.
‘Riviera of the Middle East’
In his election campaign in 2024, Trump pledged to bring peace to the region, and has continuously repeated comments that the war would never have broken out under his leadership.
But any illusions about a traditional peace process were shattered when, soon after his inauguration as U.S. president, Trump began referring to the Gaza Strip — home to almost 2 million Palestinians — as a “big real estate site” and a “demolition site”.
The proposal was first mooted at a joint press conference between Netanyahu and Trump in Washington D.C. on February 4, with the American leader shocking the world when he said: “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too.
“We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out. Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area. Do a real job. Do something different.”
Trump also mentioned a resettlement of Palestinians in other areas around the Middle East. But when asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins who might live in his new Gaza, Trump said he envisioned “world people living there, the world’s people”.
“I think you’ll make that into an international, unbelievable place. I think the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable. And I think the entire world, representatives from all over the world, will be there and they’ll live there. Palestinians also, many people will live there,” he said, adding that the system as it currently stands doesn’t work and will never work.
“I don’t want to be cute, I don’t want to be a wise guy, but the Riviera of the Middle East, this could be something that could be so magnificent.”
Later, Trump officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared to walk back the suggestion that Palestinians would be displaced en masse. Rubio said they would only be relocated temporarily while reconstruction was underway.
However, the messaging was again unclear when, en route to the Super Bowl aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters: “I think that it’s a big mistake to allow people, the Palestinians, or the people living in Gaza, to go back yet another time, and we don’t want Hamas going back.
“And think of it as a big real estate site, and the United States is going to own it and we’ll slowly, very slowly, we’re in no rush, develop it. We’re going to bring stability to the Middle East soon.”
Trump, a real estate magnate before entering politics, owns resorts in the U.S. and Europe that bear his name and are still controlled by his family members, including golf resorts in Scotland and Ireland.
His son-in-law Jared Kushner is also a high-profile real-estate investor with interests in the hotel and resort world. The Albanian government recently gave a Kushner seafront luxury resort project the green light.
Reaction
The comments made by Trump earlier this month about his real estate plans for Gaza prompted widespread criticism from world leaders, but were welcomed by Israeli officials.
Meanwhile, the AI video posted on February 26 appeared to alienate evens some of Trump’s ardent supporters. There was backlash to the post on Trump’s own social network, Truth Social, with some self-described Trump fans saying the clip was in “very poor taste” and “horrible”.
Some people who said they voted for Donald Trump citing domestic issues urged him to “focus” on the future of the U.S. One commenter on Instagram wrote: “Okay maybe I should’ve voted for Kamala.”
Christian supporters of Donald Trump also referenced the apparent idolatry of the U.S. president in the video, who is presented as a God-like icon cast in gold.
One Truth Social user commented: “This feels all wrong and actually makes me sick. I have supported you since Day 1 but this is filth. There is no God in this.”
Another wrote: “Only one deserves the glory and the honor, Mr President. The statue is a symbol of the antichrist, please humble yourself to God. Jesus is king and only Him.”
Later on February 26, the comments section underneath the Instagram version of the video was switched off, with a notice reading: “Comments on this post have been limited.”
The comments on Donald Trump’s other posts on Instagram are also limited.
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