White House Labor Day Message Misses the Mark as It Shows Exactly ZERO American Workers

(Photo Credits: AP Photo/Alex Brandon and The White House on X)

President Donald Trump’s White House put out a social media post honoring American workers on Labor Day, but it one key ingredient was conspicuously missing: American workers.

Instead, the Monday video showed a pen going through an automated assembly line where machines put it together. The clip was backed by dramatic-sounding drums as the pen was emblazoned with the president’s signature in gold, as well as having “The White House” plastered on the side of it.

After the pen is made, it is placed in a blue box and rushed from the pen factory to the White House, where the hands of an unidentified man — which is the only thing resembling an American worker in the clip — hustles to plop it on Trump’s desk. Trump then signs a document stating “Happy Labor Day” as the video wraps up.

But even then, the unseen worker and Trump’s hand appear to be AI in the video. And a number of people called out the clip for having a total of zero real American workers in it, as well as AI flavor laid on thick.

X slapped a Community Note on the clip, saying “The video shows a fully automated assembly line producing pens, with no human workers visible. Many observers note it appears AI-generated.”

You can check out the video — which has been viewed more than 2.5 million times, per X’s stats — below:

Some social media users responded to the video by pointing out it was really light on American workers.

The White House followed up a few hours later with a different 90-second video celebrating Americans on Labor Day, showing the feet of several different people — from a cowboy walking his ranch to a football player in cleats stepping on the field to a woman in high heels moving around at the office — walking forward at their jobs… yet it looked like more AI content.

“Different shoes. Same American determination,” the caption for the video said. “America wouldn’t be America without the people who keep it moving.”

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!