Is this a real video of Presiden Trump saying the far right doesn't exist and that "the left" is "poking a sleeping bear with sticks" in remarks on Charlie Kirk's death? No, that's not true: The viral clip contained AI generated sound that doesn't match the original footage published by the White House and was published by an account the has the word "satire" in its bio. The authentic audio mentions neither bears nor Charlie Kirk .
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on September 13, 2025. It opened:
Trump warns: 'Don't poke the bear.' Unreal.
The post contained a video in which Trump appeared to be saying the following:
I really shouldn't say it, but I think I've got to say it. The far right in our country doesn't exist....yet. The far left, the loony tune brigade, however, is quite real.. real as real gets.. as serious as cancer. Cancer not good. But people forget that I'm a moderate. Charlie was a moderate as well. But the psycho left has been poking a sleeping bear with sticks, calling the bear names, stealing the bear's wallet, and they've actually begun shooting the bear. But this isn't an ordinary bear, folks. No, no, it's not. This, of course, is what scholars refer to as a metaphor. So if I was a miserable lefty, who hated my dad and thought John Oliver was a real looker, I'd pause here and ask myself, do I want to keep poking this bear, or do I want my face ripped off in a horrific bear accident?
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at x.com/MaverickDarby)
Trump warns: "Don't poke the bear." Unreal. pic.twitter.com/Tn8pL8NxoM
-- Maverick Alexander (@MaverickDarby) September 13, 2025
In reality, however, Trump did not say any of the words attributed to him in the clip on social media.
A reverse image search led to the original footage published by the White House on September 2, 2025. In that recording, Trump announced the relocation of the U.S. Space Command headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama, and answered a series of questions, but none of them were related to the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk that would happen eight days later (archived here). For the same reason, Trump couldn't have used the past tense to describe the political leanings of the then-alive activist.
Lead Stories additionally searched the automatically generated transcript: In the authentic recording, Trump said nothing about bears or Charlie Kirk.
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of video by the White House on YouTube.com)
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of video by the White House on YouTube.com)
Hiya, a tool from the InVid verification plugin, showed that the audio in the version of the recording that spread on social media was created by AI:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of the InVid verification plugin)
Furthermore, at the very final second, the clip from X itself showed a definition of the adjective "unreal", hinting that the video was not authentic:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at x.com/MaverickDarby)
The bio of the @MavericDarby account on X (archived here) says it creates satire:
Mostly satire. I make videos, but the podcast is 🎷
