Claim:
A photo genuinely shows Donald Trump giving a thumbs up in front of nearly two dozen people wearing shirts reading, "Walz's for Trump."
Rating:
Fake ( About this rating? )
Context:
This picture displayed signs that someone generated it with an artificial-intelligence (AI) tool. Meanwhile, as we previously reported, a different and genuine photo truly did show eight of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's relatives wearing shirts reading, "Nebraska Walz's for Trump." The Associated Press published that the eight people were distant cousins of Walz. Trump did not appear in that real picture.
A picture circulating online in the summer of 2024 purportedly showed former U.S. President Donald Trump posing and giving a thumbs up in front of nearly two dozen people all appearing to wear T-shirts reading, "Walz's for Trump." The image indicated the people standing behind Trump were relatives of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — Vice President Kamala Harris ' Democratic vice-presidential running mate in the November 2024 U.S. presidential election .
For example, on Sept. 4, a user on X named Ivanka Trump News (@IvankaNews_) — an account with no official affiliation with Trump's daughter, Ivanka — posted ( archived ) the picture with the caption, "BREAKING: The *entire* Tim Walz Family just endorsed Donald J. TRUMP for President 2024! What are your reactions?"
Several other users also shared the same image on the LipstickAlley.com forums , Reddit , YouTube and X .
However, this was not a real photo, nor did Walz's entire family endorse the former president. The image displayed signs someone generated it with an artificial intelligence (AI) tool. No news websites genuinely reported on the picture, nor did any independent blogs geared toward supporting Trump. We contacted via a direct message on X the @IvankaNews_ user to ask about the image's creation but did not yet receive a response.
Separate from the fake photo, as we previously reported , it was true that, in September 2024, some of Walz's relatives living in Nebraska signaled support of Trump in a genuine picture. That photo showed eight people wearing T-shirts reading, "Nebraska Walz's for Trump."
The Associated Press published that the people in the real photo were distant cousins of the Walz family. Trump did not appear in the genuine picture.
A Closer Look at the Fake Photo Showing Trump
As for the fake, AI-generated image featuring Trump posing with a thumbs up, readers may have noticed something generally seemed a bit different about Trump's face compared to real photos of him captured in recent years. Worse, while some of the faces nearest Trump appeared reasonably realistic, the ones in the background most certainly did not.
For example, behind this smiling, AI-generated man's head is another person whose head appears unrealistically wide:
The glance exhibited by this AI-generated person might remind readers of the fake faces produced by the website thispersondoesnotexist.com :
Meanwhile, the fake person shown on the left side of this zoomed-in image displayed a blurry and somewhat flattened face, especially around the mouth, while the shoulders of the man on the right appeared strangely high:
Other faces in the picture also displayed signs typical of AI-image manipulation.
For further reading, we previously reported about another AI-generated picture described as "five dancing Israelis" purportedly showing five shirtless men recording themselves waving an Israeli flag on 9/11 as the World Trade Center's twin towers burned in the background.
Sources:
Karnowski, Steve. "That Photo of People Wearing 'Nebraska Walz's for Trump' Shirts? They're Distant Cousins." The Associated Press , 4 Sept. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/walz-family-nebraska-trump-elelction-2f2e29586b0e9ebe094ff2cf546e1ae4 .
Liles, Jordan. "Photo Shows Relatives of Tim Walz Wearing 'Nebraska Walz's for Trump' Shirts?" Snopes , 5 Sept. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/nebraska-walzs-for-trump/ .
"Search with an Image on Google - Computer." Google Search Help , https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1325808 .
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