Claim: There is an audio clip circulating online of former U. S. President Donald Trump allegedly stating that Republicans are "the dumbest group of voters in the country. " This claim is rated as fake. The context for this rating is that an unidentified individual used artificial intelligence (AI) technology to create the fabricated Trump audio clip. The origins of this false rumor can be traced back to an online rumor that emerged years ago, suggesting that in 1998, Trump made the statement to People magazine. The full quote, as stated, implied that if he were to run for office, Trump would do so as a Republican because he believed they were easily swayed by information from Fox News and would believe even his lies. This quote predominantly circulated in meme form and gained renewed attention in the lead-up to the 2024 U. S. presidential election. On July 7th, TikTok user @unclesmudge13 uploaded a post that claimed to include audio of Trump saying the full quote.

The post garnered approximately 500, 000 views, with some users expressing agreement with the statement and calling for it to go viral. Several TikTok users mentioned AI in relation to the audio clip, suggesting that it had been around before the emergence of AI technology. @unclesmudge13 even responded to one comment, mentioning that they had heard the same statement attributed to Trump on Howard Stern's show years ago and potentially on Oprah as well. However, it has been confirmed that the Trump audio clip featured in the TikTok post was fabricated using AI. The user who created it remains unknown. Additionally, previous investigations found no evidence that Trump ever made such a statement about Republicans being the "dumbest group of voters. " We reached out to the TikTok account responsible for the post to inquire about the source of the audio clip and are awaiting a response. To find out more about this rumor, we recommend referring to our January 2024 article, which also includes a TikTok post showcasing one of the earlier memes featuring the alleged quote.