California Governor Gavin Newsom has trolled the White House yet again with an AI-generated video of President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller in handcuffs this “cuffing” season.
Cuffing season is a term used to describe the desire to enter a romantic relationship during the cold fall and winter months. The term gained so much popularity that it was used in a 2022 Saturday Night Live sketch, where artist SZA sang, “It’s cuffing season, and all the girls are leaving to get a big boy. I need a big boy. Give me a big boy.”
The White House used SZA’s SNL song in a video promoting Trump’s mass immigrant deportation efforts. Clips of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, where suspects were handcuffed, were compiled into the video.
“WE HEARD IT’S CUFFING SZN,” the White House wrote alongside the video in an X post Monday. “Bad news for criminal illegal aliens. Great news for America.”
This prompted Newsom to post his own video to X on Wednesday about cuffing season, although this time it was the Trump administration with their hands tied behind their back. Newsom also used SZA’s song as an AI-generated Trump, Hegseth and Miller cried wearing handcuffs.
SZA spoke out against the Trump administration using her song in their video, writing on X Wednesday, “White House rage baiting artists for free promo is PEAK DARK ..inhumanity +shock and aw tactics ..Evil n Boring.”
Newsom has been trolling Trump online for months as he pushes back against the president’s agenda, including his ICE raids in California. In June, Trump circumvented Newsom and sent the National Guard into Los Angeles to quell anti-ICE protesters.
The California governor has also criticized Miller, who is known as the architect of Trump’s hardline immigration policies, saying, “I think there’s a cruelty to him” during a recent interview with political commentator Jack Cocchiarella.
Hegseth has also made headlines lately for the U.S. military strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, which have reportedly killed more than 80 people.
The Washington Post reported last month that a September 2 operation left two survivors, who were killed when Navy Admiral Frank M. Bradley ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions to “kill everybody.” The White House maintains that the strikes were legal.
