Overview

• Screens in the Brady briefing room displayed the president’s AI-altered clips of Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer on repeat, with a deputy communications director saying the sombreros will continue until the government reopens.
• Vice President JD Vance defended the videos as funny and pledged the memes would stop if Jeffries helps pass a measure to end the shutdown, while questioning Jeffries’ description of the content as racist.
• Jeffries called the videos racist and fake, and Schumer labeled the tactic childish, arguing it shows the administration is not serious about negotiations.
• The government entered a shutdown after the September 30 deadline passed without a funding deal, with disputes over health care provisions and GOP claims about benefits for undocumented immigrants that Democrats dispute.
• House Speaker Mike Johnson urged Jeffries to ignore the trolling and called the meme wars a sideshow as both parties accused the other of bad-faith tactics.