Power. Ego. Deepfakes. It’s early 2026, and the political landscape has basically become a hall of mirrors. You’ve probably seen the headline or the thumbnail by now—the one about Trump licking Musk feet. Honestly, if you blinked during the chaotic spring of 2025, you might have thought it actually happened in the Oval Office.
But let’s get the reality check out of the way immediately. Donald Trump did not literally lick Elon Musk’s feet. What actually happened was a high-tech "digital insurrection" that turned a government building into a theater of the absurd. It was a fake—a very convincing, very disturbing AI-generated video. Yet, the reason it went viral wasn't just the shock value. It was because, for a few months there, the power dynamic between the world’s richest man and the leader of the free world looked exactly like that.
The HUD Incident: When AI Hit the Big Screen
On February 24, 2025, employees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) showed up for their first day of mandatory full-time office work. They expected boring internal memos on the lobby monitors. Instead, they saw a loop of President Trump appearing to massage and peck at Elon Musk’s bare feet.
The video was captioned with a mocking phrase: "Long live the real king."
It stayed up long enough to stun hundreds of federal workers. It wasn't some grainy, 2010-era Photoshop job. This was a sophisticated deepfake that used advanced generative AI to mimic skin texture and movement.
"It looked like a sign of resistance that brought a lot of joy to people who were about to be fired," one anonymous staffer told reporters at the time.
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The timing was brutal. Musk was currently leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and he was slashing the federal workforce with a machete. The video wasn't just a prank; it was a commentary on the perception that Musk was the one actually holding the leash in Washington.
Why People Believed the "Licking" Narrative
The term Trump licking Musk feet became a shorthand metaphor for the 2025 "Bromance." Why did it stick? Because the optics were, frankly, wild.
Think about the timeline:
- Musk spent over $200 million to help Trump get elected.
- He was basically living at Mar-a-Lago for weeks after the election.
- Trump called him "a star" and "a genius" at every rally.
- Musk was sitting in on calls with foreign leaders like Zelenskyy.
When you have a President who usually demands total subservience suddenly sharing the spotlight with a billionaire who has his own satellite network (Starlink), people start wondering who is serving whom. The "foot licking" metaphor wasn't about a physical act; it was about the perceived surrender of executive dignity to Silicon Valley capital.
The Great Breakup of June 2025
If the deepfake video represented the peak of their "union," the summer of 2025 was the messy divorce. By June, the honeymoon was dead.
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The catalyst? Something Trump called the "One Big Beautiful Bill"—a massive spending package. Musk, staying true to his "slash everything" DOGE persona, called it a "disgusting abomination" on X. He warned it would lead to the biggest debt ceiling crisis in history.
Trump didn't take it well. He fired back, saying he was "very disappointed" and that Musk was "not a team player."
Things got ugly fast. Musk eventually posted a bombshell claim—later deleted—alleging that Trump’s name was in the unreleased Epstein files. Trump responded by threatening to pull SpaceX’s government contracts. For a few months, the "foot licking" days felt like ancient history.
Where They Stand Now in 2026
Kinda surprisingly, they've made up. Sorta.
Just a few weeks ago, in early January 2026, Musk and Trump shared a "lovely dinner" at Mar-a-Lago. Trump has been softening his tone, mostly because he needs Musk’s tech. With the current internet blackouts in Iran, Trump publicly mused about calling "Elon" to get Starlink involved.
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The power dynamic has shifted again. It’s no longer about one man "licking the feet" of the other. It’s a cold, calculated business partnership. Trump needs the donor money and the tech; Musk needs the regulatory freedom and the government contracts.
Actionable Insights: How to Spot the Next "Foot" Video
The Trump licking Musk feet saga is the perfect case study for the "Post-Truth" era of 2026. Here is how you can protect yourself from the next viral political deepfake:
- Check the extremities: In the HUD video, Musk was famously depicted as having two left feet. AI still struggles with hands and toes. If the anatomy looks "off," it’s fake.
- Verify the source: If a video of a President doing something scandalous isn't on a major news network within 10 minutes, it's almost certainly a digital fabrication.
- Look for the "uncanny valley": Real skin has imperfections, sweat, and micro-movements. Deepfakes often look "too smooth" or have a slight shimmer around the edges of the face.
- Analyze the lighting: In the HUD incident, the light hitting Trump’s face didn't match the ambient light reflecting off Musk’s skin. Shadows are the hardest thing for AI to get right.
The reality is that as we head toward the 2026 midterms, these "visual hit pieces" are only going to get more common. Whether it's Trump, Musk, or the next political titan, the goal of these videos isn't to convince you of a fact—it's to make you feel a certain way about their power.
Stay skeptical. The next time you see a headline as wild as a President licking a billionaire’s feet, remember: in 2026, seeing is no longer believing.