WASHINGTON — In an unusual display of political theater, the White House is reportedly playing a viral video of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries accompanied by a mariachi band on constant loop, using the clip as a pointed reminder of the ongoing government shutdown.
The approach, officials say, is part of a broader effort to keep pressure on Democrats while injecting a dose of humor into the tense standoff. “The sombreros will continue until the government reopens,” Kaelan Dorr, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump and White House deputy communications director, wrote in a social media post on Wednesday, signaling the administration’s commitment to using the video as a daily provocation.
The tactic reflects the Trump-era penchant for blending spectacle with messaging, ensuring that even as the shutdown drags on, the visual gag keeps headlines and social media feeds abuzz. Observers say it is both a nod to viral culture and a strategy to underscore the administration’s narrative about Democratic obstruction.
The video features House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sporting a mustache and sombrero, accompanied by mariachi music, played repeatedly during media briefings. The clip underscores one of the Democrats’ key sticking points in the government shutdown negotiations: their insistence that certain health care provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill be rolled back as a condition for funding the federal government.
Not only is the video playing on a continuous loop in the White House Press Briefing Room, but the mariachi soundtrack has reportedly been amplified to maximum volume. Critics have labeled the videos as both misleading and racially insensitive, arguing that they distort the facts by suggesting that undocumented immigrants and others ineligible for Medicaid were never enrolled, and that the bill took no measures to address those concerns.
“I didn’t know hats and mustaches were racist. Duly noted, media-industrial complex,” one official remarked.
During an appearance on ABC This Week with former Clinton adviser George Stephanopoulos, the host pressed House Speaker Mike Johnson on the issue, only for Johnson to swiftly reject the assertion.
During the exchange:
STEPHANOPOULOS: “Illegal immigrants are ineligible for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Program. The Democratic bill does not make them eligible.”
JOHNSON: “It does, actually, because what it does is unwind the changes Republicans put into the Big Beautiful Bill, the signature legislation we passed and signed into law on July 4. That law has been very successful in shoring up Medicaid for the people who are actually eligible.
“What we did in the bill — and the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan arbiter of federal budgets, verified this three weeks ago — is reduce premiums by removing ineligible recipients, including illegal immigrants and able-bodied young men not entitled to benefits. Medicaid is intended for specific U.S. populations: young, pregnant women facing hardship, the disabled, and the elderly. By ensuring resources reach those groups, we cut waste, fraud, and abuse.
