Carpe Donktum, the pro-Trump 'memesmith' who visited the White House, is working with the creator of the fake Trump church massacre video
- A right-wing "memesmith" embraced by President Donald Trump is associated with the creator of a video showing a fake Trump murdering news organizations and political opponents in a mass church shooting.
- The violent video, shown at a pro-Trump conference, was made by "TheGeekzTeam," an account that creates content for a website run by "CarpeDonktum," a meme creator who met with Trump this summer.
- CarpeDonktum confirmed that TheGeekzTeam "is and will remain a contributor" to his website. TheGeekTeamz posted another meme video on Sunday night of the CNN logo being blown up.
- White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said on Monday morning that Trump had "not yet seen the video ... but based upon everything he has heard, he strongly condemns this video."
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A right-wing "memesmith" embraced by President Donald Trump is associated with the creator of a video showing a fake Trump shooting and stabbing news organizations and political opponents.
The video, which The New York Times reported was shown at a conference at Trump's Miami resort last week, was made by the YouTube account "TheGeekzTeam," which creates content for a website run by a man who goes by "CarpeDonktum."
CarpeDonktum is a stay-at-home dad from Kansas who has not made his name public, but is perhaps best known for creating the viral edited video of former Vice President Joe Biden's apology for unwanted touching of women, which Trump posted to his Twitter account.
Trump invited CarpeDonktum to his July White House "social media summit," and hosted the meme-maker and his family in the Oval Office for a private "meet and greet" and photo opp.
CarpeDonktum confirmed on Twitter that "the person who created the video IS and will remain a contributor" to his website, MemeWorld. TheGeekTeamz posted another meme video on Sunday night of the CNN logo being blown up.
The July social media summit included a group of pro-Trump online influencers and conspiracy theory-promoters like James O'Keefe, the controversial ambush journalist and founder of Project Veritas, and Bill Mitchell, a proponent of the QAnon conspiracy movement.
"The crap you think of is unbelievable," Trump said in his remarks at the event, which focused on right-wing claims that social media companies are censoring conservative voices, including the president's.
CarpeDonktum told New York Times columnist Charlie Warzel in April that his work is "the future of political advertising."
"The stuff online that people dismiss as memes - that's the way to motivate people," he said. "It's the viral political marketing of the future."
American Priority, the pro-Trump group that organized the Florida event, said the church shooting video was never approved by the group.
"Content was submitted by third parties and was not associated with or endorsed by the conference in any official capacity," the group told The Times.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former White House press secretary who attended and spoke at the American Priority event, said she never saw the video and wasn't aware of its existence. The president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., also attended and spoke at the conference, but hasn't commented on the video.
"The @POTUS @realDonaldTrump has not yet seen the video, he will see it shortly, but based upon everything he has heard, he strongly condemns this video," White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham tweeted Monday morning.
