Golf clubs, cash and Russia: Trump makes speech in front of doctored seal
When President Trump came to the stage before an adoring crowd of young Conservatives he was beaming, oblivious to the presidential seal that was sending him up.
Trump was speaking at a summit for Turning Point USA – a young conservative political action group – earlier this week.
An introductory video had been shown, one that detailed Trump’s ascendence to the White House.
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But after he rose to the podium it became apparent that the Presidential seal on which the video had finished had actually been doctored.
The normally singular eagle now had two heads and was clutching a fistful of golf-clubs and a wad of cash.
The eagle references the two-headed eagle of Russia’s coat of arms. Meanwhile the golf clubs represents the president’s beloved pastime.
Together they point to alleged ties between Trump and Russia and interference in the 2016 election.
Since the video had just detailed Trump’s triumphant race to the White House, this was particularly cutting.
Another less overt alteration was the substitution of the Latin script with Spanish; instead of E pluribus unum – “out of many one” – it now read, “45 es un títere” or “45 is a puppet”.
Trump is the 45th President of the United States.
The Spanish references Trump’s vitriolic border policies, while the message alludes to Trump’s exchanges with Hilary Clinton in the 2016 election debates.
Turning Point USA said that the presence of the image was the result of a staff member’s careless online search, the need for them to find a second high-resolution photo of the Presidential seal to place behind Trump.
On Thursday morning Turning Point USA had identified and fired the staffer responsible. A spokesman said: “We did let the individual go. I don’t think it was malicious intent, but nevertheless.”
A 46 year-old graphic designer, Charles Leazott, originally made the image after the 2016 election, according to reports, and had practically forgotten all about it.
The Washington Post had then found the image for sale on a merchandise website, which is where the staffer is presumed have found it.
Leazott commented on the origin of the design: “I’m a graphic designer, it’s just something I tossed together. This was just a goofy thing for some people I knew”
But he woke up on Thursday with the internet awash with his forgotten piece of design. He said, “It’s been chaos. This is not what I expected when I woke up today.”
He added: “You have to look for this. There’s no way this was an accident is all I’m saying”.
Stocks of t-shirts bearing the design sold out on Thursday afternoon; so despite a slew of hateful messages on Facebook, Leazott is happy his image found itself behind the U.S President.
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He said the person responsible was “either wildly imcompetant or the best troll ever – either way, I love them”.
Richard Painter, George W Bush’s administration chief and White House ethics lawyer, told the Washington Post: “To let someone project something on the screen that isn’t controlled by the White House is pretty stupid.”