A new Instagram account, called ‘RuPublicans’ is taking the internet by storm for its AI-generated artwork. The account uses artificial intelligence to imagine Republican politicians in drag, featuring the likes of former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other GOP figures draped in frills, feathers and glitter.
The account is a humorous play on the words Republicans and RuPaul, a famous drag queen and television star. In one of the most popular images, Cruz is depicted as ‘Cruzella Deville’ sporting a fur coat, standing up for ‘every gun, every fetus and every day’. Another image features DeSantis as ‘Rhonda Santy’ in a bejeweled blue ball gown with a mission to turn the ‘Magic Kingdom into a Tragic Kingdom’.
The account is the work of a married couple, Craig and Stephen, both aged in their thirties. Craig is employed in the education industry while Steven works as a Creative Director in marketing and technology. They are not only skilled at graphic design but have achieved a realistic effect through the use of Midjourney AI image generator.
Craig and Stephen said their inspiration for creating the artwork was founded in the Republican’s ‘anti-drag rhetoric’ and actions. The couple believes ‘drag artists have brought joy and laughter, helped heal old wounds, and given us the permission to love ourselves’.
Several of the GOP lawmakers featured in the AI images have made anti-trans comments in the past, including Pence railing against safe spaces for transgender students and Cruz introducing a bill to prevent trans women from competing in female sports. Even more concerning are the anti-trans laws being enacted in Oklahoma and South Carolina.
The couple hope their artwork brings the issue to the forefront and engages others in the discussion. They state the artwork is intended to be ‘over the top and ridiculous’ to drive home the false narratives around drag and to highlight the hypocrisy of the GOP.
As for Midjourney, it is an AI image generator used by the couple to bring their vision of Republican politicians in drag to life. The generator uses generative adversarial networks (GAN) to produce “photorealistic” images, by taking course data and creating an in-depth design that can be used in a variety of different images. These images can be altered to fit the needs of any project.
