Trump loving Thum Head Anthony Hudson is running for Michigan’s 8th District Congressional seat under a proud MAGA banner, even posting on Facebook that drumpf “Is MY President” in the present tense – of course.
So it should come as no surprise that Tony is your typical crass Republican candidatet who has tried to make the Flint, Michigan water crisis an issue for his candidacy, even though it was the Republican Supermajority and (R) Governor Rick Snyder who precipitated the crisis in 2014 by switching Flint’s drinking water supply from Detroit’s safe treated water reserve to draw from the lead contaminated Flint River.
In so doing Hudson is trying to cultivate black voters in his district who comprise some 15% of the vote.
But trying to exploit a problem created by like minded politicos in his own party is nowhere near the bottom of Hudson’s dishonesty. Hudson’s campaign release on Friday a deep fake campaign ad on his TikTok account using an AI generated sound alike of Martin Luther King Jr.’s voice ghoulishly claiming to have “come back from the dead” to dubiously endorse his candidacy.
You couldn’t make this up folks…
GOP congressional candidate Anthony Hudson (MI-08) posts a TikTok featuring an AI-generated MLK Jr. voice:
"I have another dream! Yes, it is me, Martin Luther King. I came back from the dead to say something … Anthony Hudson will be Michigan 8th District's next congressman." pic.twitter.com/8BarOfXfI2
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) June 14, 2024
And, if that wasn’t bad enough, after the entirely predictable hubbub ensued, Hudson took the ad down, and tried to blame a staffer for posting it without his authorization… only to later put it back up saying, gosh darn it, he sincerely believes King would back him…
“Michigan Republican primary congressional candidate Anthony Hudson wildly backtracked after initially apologizing for a video — that was shared on his TikTok account — in which he was endorsed by an AI-enhanced voice that sounded like civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.
“I have another dream. Yes, it is me, Martin Luther King. I came back from the dead to say something,” the voice said in the clip. “As I was saying, I have another dream that Anthony Hudson will be Michigan 8th District’s next congressman. Yes, I have a dream again. OK, now I am going back to where I came from. Goodbye.” The voice of Donald Trump loyalist Hudson then said he “approves this message.”
How can anyone in good conscience “approve” a message that is a complete scam and a lie that not even the family of Dr. King got a chance to review and approve?
But Hudson soon backtracked:
“On X, Hudson first struck an apologetic tone as he blamed a volunteer for giving his “social media credentials to one of his friends who then posted an AI video without my knowledge.”
“It appears that they not only used AI for MLKjr’s voice but also with my voice to make it appear more authentic,” he explained. “The volunteer has been released and all my social media credentials have been updated. I would have NEVER approved such a STUPID and DISRESPECTFUL video!”
A volunteer gave my social media credentials to one of his friends who then posted an AI video without my knowledge. It appears that they not only used AI for MLKjr’s voice but also with my voice to make it appear more authentic.
The volunteer has been released and all my…
— Anthony Hudson (@AHudson2k24) June 14, 2024
O.K. Sincere apology or not, one would be forgiven to think this statement might be the end of this sorry episode.
But no!
“Just a few hours later, though, Hudson performed a stunning 180 and claimed he’d now decided “not only to keep my campaign staffer, but also give him a raise as I believe MLK would be disgusted at the complete suffering of Flint Michigan residents under the current administration’s watch.”
Attention:
I have been getting media requests from multiple media outlets, and I would like to address the Tik Tok incident that happened this morning. Here is my statement regarding the MLK AI Endorsement Video:
Upon further review of the MLK video in question, I decided to…
— Anthony Hudson (@AHudson2k24) June 14, 2024
I have no idea what prompted Hudson’s final flip-flop, but if pressed I would guess that he got a call from Trump (who has endorsed him) or someone on Trump’s staff encouraging him to hold fast with his racism and assho##ishness.
After all, Trump seems intent on trying to win Michigan by continually playing the race card as he did this weekend by calling attention to his black church visit where he blabbed on about “high black crime rates”…
…subtle…
Here’s hope the good folks of Michigan reject both of these phonies.
And people actually believe we can reason with nazis or expect ANY COMMON DECENCY!
In Inglorious Basterds, Brad Pitt as Aldo the Apache, was recruiting soliders for a guerrilla operation behind German lines. He demanded each get 100 nazi scalps. He said: I didn’t come down from the Smokey mountains, cross thousands of miles of ocean, jump out of a goddamn plane, fight my way across Sicily, to teach the nazis humanity. nazis ain’t got no humanity. they are the foot soliders of a maniacal Jew hating mass murderer. they don’t have any humanity and they must be destroyed.
Clearly, our nice citizens, seeing them in suits, holding office, and appearing on tv, have yet to see the horror looming all around us. It will be either the vote or…literal civil war to stop this evil. The vote, having been bought by WAR, needs to be the way out.
Here’s hoping the SANE members of the King family (obviously excluding the right-wing shill Alveda) file a lawsuit demanding he take down the fake material because, believe it or not, the use of dead celebrities is NOT a matter of “fair use” under copyright. You MUST get the approval of the celebrity’s estate before using anything connected with said celebrity (and, Dr King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is perilously close here to being used without sanction).
The whole issue of celebrity rights (especially for deceased celebrities) was decided several decades ago (there was concern over “endorsements” by dead celebrities of products they couldn’t possibly be using–pulling up an old image of Marilyn Monroe, for instance, drinking a Coke would be okay but using CGI to change a picture of her drinking a glass of tea into one of Coke would not). Imagery that appears in news photos and clips CAN be used within “fair use” but they also are not allowed to be (pardon the pun) doctored to misrepresent the original intent of the image.
Hey! Voters in MI’s 8th–get out and vote. Vote for another candidate in such numbers it destroys this horse’s ass so he never runs for public office again. Bury him in votes for anyone else even if you have to write in a name, real or not.