You’ve probably heard of a “straw man,” a fallacy in which you misrepresent an opponent’s argument so it’s easier to refute. Put up a false impression of what they’re saying, and then knock ’em down. We all do it.
But what we all probably don’t do is create a full-blown AI-generated deepfake of our opponent and then sincerely try to argue with it for nearly an hour. And we probably aren’t running for public office, either.
Credit where credit’s due, though. John Reid, a Republican candidate in the Virginia lieutenant governor race, went ahead and did just that, seemingly not stopping to ask questions like, “will this make me look insane?” or “does this count as spreading misinformation?” — because he is, you must understand, on the cutting edge of the AI straw man.
Reid streamed the 40 minute long stunt on his YouTube channel, and it’s every bit as absurd as you’d expect.
After boring us with nearly two minutes of text explaining that Reid’s Democratic opponent, state senator Ghazala F. Hashmi, repeatedly turned down his requests for a debate, thus forcing Reid to pursue the “best-possible alternative” of using AI to replicate Hashmi, an AI debate moderator pops up on the screen in the form of a still image, and introduces them both in a bland voice.
Both candidates give opening statements, with the AI Hashmi going first so Reid can get in a few easy dunks.
At long last, a wideshot reveals Reid dutifully standing at a podium and gazing at the podium across from him, where his opponent — a TV screen playing the AI Hashmi’s responses — sits equally resolute.
What does this say about the state of American politics? Our analysis: that things are very strange indeed.
“It’s not any worse than having an AI Trump piloting a plane and dumping on the public,” Virginia political strategist Bob Holsworth told the Washington Post.
Holsworth is of course referring to the bizarre AI generated video president Donald Trump posted over the weekend that depicted him as a crown-wearing fighter pilot strafing peaceful protestors with barrages of diarrhea.
The Trump administration has embraced using AI imagery to mock its political opponents and spread propaganda in clips that look like scam mobile game ads. These examples are often so absurd that it can be hard to take them seriously, but they raise uncomfortable questions about the tech’s intrusion into the political sphere. While Reid was debating his AI straw man, an AI-deepfake of Irish presidential candidate Catherine Connolly circulated on social media showing her announcing her “withdrawal” from the race. The real Connolly called the deepfake a “disgraceful attempt to mislead voters and undermine our democracy,” per the BBC.
“This is where we are right now, like it or not,” Holsworth told WaPo. “Unless there are norms and rules that emerge in terms of the use of AI, you’re likely to see it used in much more sophisticated ways in 2026. So, welcome to the future.”
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