An online rumor claimed a little girl asked U.S. President-elect Donald Trump about God during a town hall at a Louisiana church. According to the story, his response brought her to tears. Did this story truly happen? This article examines the facts in an attempt to uncover the truth. I first noticed this rumor after a post referencing the story displayed in my Facebook feed.
In my research, I learned most Facebook users sharing the rumor linked to a video (archived) hosted on the Elite Stories YouTube channel, titled, “A Little Girl Asks Trump About God – His Response Brings Her To Tears!” The clip displayed over 1.5 million views. Other channels also hosted similar videos telling the same story.
The text description of the video read:
What happens when an 8-year-old girl asks Donald Trump a question no one saw coming? In a quiet Louisiana town hall, a young girl’s heartfelt query about faith left the room stunned and Trump reflecting on his own struggles, doubts, and moments of hope. As he opened up about loss and redemption, the emotional ripple effect touched every person in the room. This unexpected encounter turned into a moment of unity, vulnerability, and inspiration that no one present would ever forget. Watch to see the powerful exchange and the life lessons it uncovered.
The “little girl asks Trump about God” clip told the story of a young girl named Lily asking Trump a question about God during a town hall organized at a church fellowship hall in Shreveport, Louisiana. According to the video, she asked him, “What does God mean to you?” In response, Donald Trump talked about his brother, Fred Trump Jr., who died in 1981 of a heart attack, attributed to alcohol use.
Numerous YouTube commenters submitted remarks showing they believed the story truly occurred. For example, one user said, “This really touched my heart. Trump is a good hearted man.” Another person added, “Lilly [sic] you are a brave beautiful child. Teaching the whole world that Trump have soft heart and making time for people around him.”
However, while the possibility certainly exists of people asking Trump about God in the past, this specific rumor claiming “little girl asks Trump about God” was false. An unknown person fabricated the story in a video entirely generated by artificial intelligence (AI), as a way of seizing on viewers’ emotions to accumulate views, likes, comments and shares — all to make money from YouTube advertising.
‘Little Girl Asks Trump About God’ Is All AI
The “little girl asks Trump about God” video featured visuals, narration, scripting and editing all generated by AI. In other words, one or more people entered simple prompts into at least one AI tool in order to create the clip.
Researching the Rumor
Online searches for information about Trump attending a town hall at a church in Shreveport yielded no results. The narrator in the video also did not mention a date or time of the interaction’s occurrence. Had such an interaction transpired between Trump and a child, news media outlets would have widely reported on the matter due to the story’s newsworthiness and also its viral-moment nature. Even if readers believe “mainstream media” would ignore it because it might place Trump in a positive light, then at least some conservative-focused websites would publish news about the interaction, surely, right? Again, no news media outlets reported on the matter, including any politically leaning left, right or anywhere in the middle.
Elite Stories exists as one of many different similar YouTube channels publishing fictional stories about famous people. Such videos often focus on the worlds of entertainment and politics. The goal of the users involves the pursuit of YouTube advertising revenue. Another goal might be the effort of building up a subscriber base to later sell the channel.
In my role as a senior reporter for Snopes.com, I recently reported about a similar series of videos telling the story about a flight attendant insulting Google CEO Sundar Pichai. That video also featured numerous AI-generated elements and a completely fabricated tale.
For further reading, I previously published a story here on my personal website about a video titled, “Kid Hides in Truck to Avoid Thugs.”