Trump’s (fake) seal of disapproval
THE eagle-eyed will probably spot the difference at once.
But when Donald Trump delivered an 80-minute address to young supporters, nobody realised he was doing so in front of a heavily doctored presidential seal.
The cunning manipulation featured mocking references to Russia in an apparent attempt at highlighting Mr Trump’s alleged links with the Kremlin.
Replacing the American eagle at the centre was the double-headed bird used on Russia’s coat of arms – along with several hammer and sickles.
In a jibe at the President’s love of golf, the eagle’s left talons clutched a collection of clubs instead of arrows representing the original 13 states of the US.
Its right claws held a bunch of dollar bills rather than the olive branch of peace. The inscription above the bird had also been changed, from the Latin for ‘Out of many, one’ to ‘45 [Mr Trump is the 45th president] is a puppet’ in Spanish. The stunt happened at a hotel in Washington as the President spoke to activists at an event led by the conservative group Turning Point USA.
After the fake was exposed by The Washington Post, Turning Point said it had sacked one of its audio/visual team. ‘We did let the individual go,’ a spokesman for the group said. ‘I don’t think it was malicious intent, but nevertheless.’
Turning Point said the error was the result of a rushed online search to find an image to display behind the US leader. The same doctored seal is used by the anti-Trump website OneTermDonnie.
Richard Painter, chief ethics lawyer for President George W Bush, said: ‘Someone is going to be getting in trouble, but they got one heck of a good laugh out of it.’