While Donald Trump appeared in front of a fake presidential seal that clearly roasted him, the organisers of the function want us to believe it was “nothing malicious”. Ok.
As far as viral images go, Donald Trump standing in front of a false seal, one that seems to have flipped him the bird, is fairly satisfying. For those who missed it, Donald took to the stage of the Marriott Marquis in Washington, delivering a twelve-minute speech to a conservative student group, Turning Point USA. He spoke, the crowd clapped, and on a screen behind him was the image in question.
So, what makes the image so cursed? It’s quite clever, actually. The bald eagle has been substituted with a two-headed eagle, a clear reference to the Russian coat of arms, clearly a reference to Donald’s alleged ties to Russia. There’s also the Soviet-era insignia, with the Hammer and Sickle just below the nape of the bird.
The doctored seal, freely available for purchase on the internet.
The yucks roll on, as the bird now clutches a wad of cash and a set of golf clubs, with the Latin motto “E pluribus unum,” (“Out of many, one”) turfed for “45 es un titere,” which is Spanish, roughly translating as “45 is a puppet”. Donald is the 45th President, and the jab in Spanish clearly references his overt racism towards Central Americans and the construction of a border wall with Mexico.
The original and the truly original.
However, while it is a subtle jab (well-timed after the disappointing Mueller refinement), it seems it was not deliberate. According to a spokesman of the aforementioned student group, “It was a last-minute A/V mistake – and I can’t figure out where the breakdown was – but it was a last-minute throw-up, and that’s all it was”
According to Turning Point USA, it was one of their own staffers that put the doctored image on the screen, but apparently, it was “It was nothing malicious,” the spokesperson told the Washington Post. “Just an accident.”
The individual in question has since been fired, “regardless of the intention behind the gaffe.”
