Democrats slammed over apparent ‘copy and paste’ social media statements

Social media posts from Democrats with the same statement coincided with a promise Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made that Democrats would deny a Republican bill to avert the shutdown. J. Scott Applewhite/ap

Online commenters on Thursday called out Democratic lawmakers over the use of a seemingly identical statement shared on social media.

At least 30 lawmakers shared the statement, or portions of it, that expressed support for a month-long funding extension to keep the government open ahead of a potential shutdown. The posts coincided with a promise Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made that Democrats would deny a Republican bill to avert the shutdown.

“House Democrats stand united in support of a four-week funding extension that prevents harmful cuts, keeps the government open, and allows Congress to reach a bipartisan funding agreement,” the identical statement reads. “I am ready to vote today or tomorrow to pass this extension.”

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., appeared to acknowledge the statement was being recycled by other Democrats by prefacing his post with “I join with my colleagues in saying … ”

Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk slammed the lawmakers, writing “they must be using the same social media intern.”

“You can see the ridiculous political puppet show for what it really is,” he added in a separate post. “They are just actors reading a script.”

“Well well well,” Orange County, California, Republicans said. “It turns out that the puppeteers in Washington, D.C. are pulling the strings on @derektranCA45, @RepMikeLevin, @DaveMinCA. Copy and paste over and over and over. Part of the liberal D.C. herd.”

The backlash is the latest in the party’s social media woes as Democrats also faced outrage over a series of videos that appeared to have been created using the same script. The videos, shared on X by at least 22 senators, used the same verbatim script and interstitial video to argue that President Donald Trump’s actions are exacerbating inflation.

Trump this month also mocked House Democrats for participating in the viral “choose your fighter” TikTok trend. The White House fired back with a TikTok of its own reading “America chose its fighters last November.”

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