In March 2025, a rumor falsely claimed President Trump wanted to rename Washington D.C. to the “District of America,” supposedly supported by an AI-generated audio clip. The clip was fabricated, with no evidence linking Trump to this idea, demonstrating the prevalence of misinformation in social media.
In March 2025, a rumor emerged suggesting that U.S. President Donald Trump intended to rename Washington D.C. to the “District of America.” This speculation followed his signing of an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Users across various social media platforms, including Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and X, shared misinformation, claiming that an audio recording of Trump advocating for this name change existed.
However, the alleged audio recording was not authentic. It was produced using an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to mimic Trump’s voice, which displayed differences in tone and speech style. The fabricated audio suggested that Trump expressed disdain for Washington D.C. and mistakenly conflated “Columbia” with the country of Colombia.
The AI-generated voice claimed, “No more Washington, D.C. I hate it. It makes no sense. They call it the District of Columbia. It’s got nothing to do with Colombia. It’s nowhere near Colombia. From now on, it will be Washington, D.A., District of America. No more of this Columbia nonsense.” The source of this audio was traced back to a now-inaccessible TikTok account named @whmole.
Before being deactivated, the @whmole account had produced various videos using fake, AI-generated audio of Trump. A separate TikTok video also credited this account for disseminating similar misleading content regarding another topic. Snopes confirmed that this account was responsible for multiple instances of AI-generated misinformation, emphasizing the need for skepticism regarding audio recordings shared on social media.
The rumor claiming Trump desired to rename Washington D.C. to the “District of America” is unfounded and was fueled by a fabricated audio clip. The fact that this audio was generated using AI technology highlights the growing issue of misinformation on social media. Users should be cautious about unverified content, especially those depicting public figures making questionable claims.
Original Source: www.snopes.com
