Donald Trump spent Labor Day weekend depicting himself as a conquering hero, military commander and historical giant—but a former Republican Party chairman says the strange AI spectacle revealed a brutal truth about his second presidency.

Michael Steele, who led the Republican National Committee from 2009 to 2011, argued that Trump’s flood of artificial-intelligence images was not designed to help struggling Americans or vulnerable Republican candidates.

It was designed to elevate Trump himself.

“The mythification of Donald Trump is what the second term is about,” Steele said during an appearance on MS NOW.

His warning arrives as Republicans face a rapidly approaching midterm election, economic dissatisfaction and polling lows that Steele described as “historic.” While GOP candidates urgently search for a message capable of winning voters, the president appears increasingly focused on building an imaginary mythology around his own power.

Medals he never earned, uniforms he never wore

Trump spent much of the holiday weekend sharing AI-generated images on Truth Social.

Some placed him in military uniforms he never wore and decorated him with medals he never earned. Others portrayed him alongside George Washington, seated on thrones or presented in religious imagery.

One image depicted Trump sitting beside Washington—as though the first president were privileged merely to occupy the same room.

“In his mind, it does” help, Steele said when host Peter Alexander asked who benefited from the posts.

“It is the mythification process that he wants,” Steele explained. “It’s why he puts out all these memes.”

Steele argued that the imagery attempts to place Trump above ordinary presidents and traditional political accountability. Rather than presenting himself as an elected official with responsibilities to voters, Trump repeatedly casts himself as a larger-than-life ruler, savior or warrior.

The former RNC chairman said the second term increasingly appears organized around that personal mythology.

An imaginary world divided among strongmen

According to Steele, Trump’s fantasy extends beyond flattering pictures.

He described an imagined global hierarchy in which Chinese leader Xi Jinping controls Asia, Russian President Vladimir Putin dominates Europe and Trump claims the Americas.

“So, that is playing out in his head,” Steele said, describing the political narrative he believes the president is attempting to construct.

This was Steele’s interpretation—not a verified account of Trump’s private thinking. But he argued that the message conveyed through the president’s posts is unmistakable: Trump wants to appear as one of a handful of dominant figures dividing the world among themselves.

Meanwhile, Republican candidates are confronting much less glamorous realities.

They need to tell voters what they will do about prices, wages, jobs and deteriorating confidence in the economy. They need to explain how another Republican Congress would materially improve people’s lives.

Steele imagined desperate GOP lawmakers appealing to Trump for help: “Mr. President, we’ve got to run campaigns. We’ve got to talk to the American people about what we’re going to do for them.”

Trump’s effective response, Steele said, has been: “I’ll get back to you in a moment.”

Republicans face an eight-week nightmare

Alexander suggested that Trump’s devotion to self-promotional AI content made him appear increasingly disengaged, particularly as he spent the weekend at one of his country clubs.

Steele said voters had already begun assigning responsibility for their economic pain—and Republicans would carry the consequences.

He accused GOP lawmakers of spending the previous two years doing “jack” while following a president who does not listen to them.

Despite his long experience in Republican politics, Steele said he could not identify a strategy that would allow the party to protect its members, let alone expand its congressional majority.

The party’s polling position is so weak that traditionally Republican states are becoming competitive, he argued.

“I don’t know how you recover in eight weeks,” Steele said.

That assessment captures the central problem for Republican candidates: They have tied their political identity to Trump, but they cannot control his decisions, messaging or behavior.

If they distance themselves, they risk angering his loyal base. If they remain silent, they must defend every controversy and absorb the backlash.

Trump’s day-trading fantasy meets economic reality

Among the images Trump shared was one showing him behind the Resolute Desk surrounded by computer monitors, apparently day-trading stocks from the Oval Office.

Steele used the image to expose what he sees as the fundamental emptiness of Trump’s political mythology.

“Well, baby, where’s my proceeds?” he asked. “I’m looking at my checkbook. I don’t see it.”

The joke carried a serious political message.

Ordinary Americans do not judge an administration by how powerful the president appears in an AI fantasy. They judge it by whether they can afford food, housing, fuel and the cost of operating a business.

Steele offered the example of a small-business owner spending $1,000 each week to keep trucks running. For that voter, an image of Trump trading stocks from the Oval Office does nothing to reduce fuel expenses or improve the company’s bottom line.

“People aren’t stupid,” Steele said.

He emphasized that Democrats did not create the strange image as an attack advertisement. Trump posted it himself.

Corruption adds to the political burden

Alexander also raised continuing reports about alleged corruption involving people connected to the administration.

Steele acknowledged that corruption may not always outrank immediate economic concerns for families struggling to pay their bills. But he argued that the issue remains important to many voters—and could reinforce a broader impression that political insiders are enriching themselves while ordinary people fall behind.

The contrast is increasingly dangerous for Republicans.

Trump’s online world presents him as a decorated commander, market genius and historic ruler. The world confronting voters is defined by high expenses, economic anxiety and elected Republicans unable—or unwilling—to restrain their own president.

That is the myth Steele says the party cannot escape.

Republicans spent years building Trump into a figure larger than their party. Now, with the midterms approaching and voters demanding practical answers, they may be discovering that the mythology designed to make Trump look invincible offers them no protection at all.