Overview
- Chris Garten posted four AI images on X on Christmas depicting himself punching, kicking and body‑slamming Santa outside the Indiana Statehouse.
- He framed the images as a stand against bureaucratic overreach and unfunded mandates, telling the North Pole to take it back.
- Garten later said he designed the pictures with his children and derided critics as clowns and snowflakes.
- Responses on X skewed negative, with users calling the stunt weird and disturbing, and the Indiana Democratic Party publicly rebuking it.
- Coverage noted broader ethical worries about normalizing political AI content, and reported no formal sanctions or official action to date.