It was a Monday morning in late February 2025. Federal employees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Washington, D.C., walked into their cafeteria, likely looking for a caffeine fix. What they found instead was a high-definition nightmare playing on a loop across the building’s internal TV monitors.
There he was: Donald Trump, the President of the United States, appearing to grovel and kiss the bare feet of billionaire Elon Musk.
The screen was emblazoned with the words: “LONG LIVE THE REAL KING.” If you’re searching for the video of trump kissing musks feet, you’ve likely seen the screenshots or heard the rumors. But before you go thinking the leader of the free world has a brand-new, extremely public hobby, let’s get the facts straight. This wasn't a "hot mic" moment or a leaked security tape. It was a digital hijack.
The HUD Incident: How it Went Down
On February 24, 2025, the HUD headquarters became the ground zero for one of the most brazen deepfake "protests" in modern political history. The video didn't just appear on social media; it was physically broadcast inside a government building.
According to reports from NBC News and Vox, workers were stunned. Some laughed. Others were horrified. Two HUD employees confirmed to reporters that the footage played on multiple screens. It wasn’t just a quick flash, either. The video showed Trump massaging and pecking at Musk's feet in a way that felt eerily realistic—until you looked at the details.
Wait, what was the "Real King" thing about?
The caption was a direct jab at Trump himself. Just days before, the President had posted "LONG LIVE THE KING!" on Truth Social in reference to a completely different political win. The hackers (or disgruntled employees) simply added the word "REAL" to suggest that Musk—now the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—was the one actually calling the shots.
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Why This Video Still Matters in 2026
We’ve entered an era where "seeing is believing" is a dangerous philosophy. This specific video of trump kissing musks feet is a textbook case of how AI is being weaponized as a form of labor protest.
Think about the timing. The video aired the exact same week that Musk’s "culling" of federal agencies was hitting a fever pitch. Musk had recently sent out a memo demanding that federal workers provide a list of five things they did the previous week or face immediate termination. Morale at HUD was, to put it mildly, in the gutter.
Basically, the video was a digital middle finger.
Telltale Signs it Was Fake
Even though deepfake tech like Sora and Grok-2 have made huge leaps, this video had some classic AI "hallucinations."
- The Feet: Observers noted that in some frames, Musk appeared to have two left feet or a varying number of toes.
- The Physics: The way the fabric of Trump’s suit interacted with the movement of his head was slightly "floaty."
- The Audio: Or lack thereof. The video was a silent, looping visual, which is much easier for AI to generate than a fully lip-synched conversation.
The Fallout: Taxpayer Dollars and Investigations
The Department of Housing and Urban Development didn't find the prank particularly funny. Kasey Lovett, a spokesperson for the department, called the incident a "waste of taxpayer dollars and resources."
Officials eventually had to resort to the most basic tech support move in history: they literally unplugged the TVs. They couldn't figure out how the internal network had been compromised quickly enough to stop the loop, so they just pulled the power cords.
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Honestly, that’s the most government-style solution possible.
Beyond the Feet: The "Stayin' Alive" Context
It’s easy to get confused because Trump and Musk actually did share a viral AI video earlier in 2024. In August of that year, Trump himself posted a video of him and Musk dancing to the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive."
Musk even joked on X (formerly Twitter), "Haters will say this is AI."
The difference? That dance video was shared by the subjects themselves as a joke. The video of trump kissing musks feet was an unauthorized, non-consensual deepfake designed to humiliate. It marks the shift from AI being used for "buddy-comedy" memes to AI being used for political assassination of character.
How to Spot the Next One
We're in 2026 now. The tools are better, the pixels are sharper, and the "uncanny valley" is getting narrower. If you see a video that seems too wild to be true, it probably is.
Check the Source: Did this come from a verified news outlet with multiple camera angles, or a single "leak" on a fringe social media account?
Watch the Shadows: AI still struggles with how light hits complex surfaces like skin and hair during fast movement.
Context is King: Would a man as famously germaphobic as Donald Trump actually put his face near someone's bare feet in a public setting? Probably not.
What to Do Next
If you come across the video of trump kissing musks feet on your feed, the best move is to treat it like any other piece of digital satire.
- Don't share it as fact. Even if you dislike the people involved, spreading deepfakes as reality makes it harder for everyone to agree on what's real.
- Report the "Glitch." If you see it on a platform like X or Instagram, use the "AI-generated" reporting tool to help the algorithm label it correctly.
- Verify via Fact-Checkers. Sites like Snopes and the Associated Press Fact Check usually have a breakdown of these viral clips within hours of them going live.
The HUD incident was a wake-up call for government cybersecurity. If hackers can get a foot-kissing video onto the monitors of a federal building, what else can they get through?
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Actionable Insights for the Future
- Audit your internal networks: If you run a business with public-facing screens, ensure they aren't accessible via the guest Wi-Fi.
- Update your "BS" Meter: Assume any video of a high-profile politician doing something wildly out of character is AI until proven otherwise by a reputable third party.
- Support Transparency Legislation: Keep an eye on new laws requiring AI-generated content to carry invisible digital watermarks.