Maggie Harrison Dupré
Fri, October 4, 2024
Get Your Waders
An image depicting former president Donald Trump wading through floodwaters alongside a fellow disaster responder went viral on social media this week.
But there's one tiny problem: the image is an AI-generated fake, as multiple publications have confirmed.
The image, which shows Trump wearing a lifejacket and blue jeans as he marches through thigh-high waters, first picked up steam on Facebook last weekend.
And it doesn't hold up to virtually any degree of scrutiny. Trump's right hand is distorted, and the lettering pictured on either man's clothing is completely illegible.
The former president has visited some areas impacted by the storm, but there are no credible reports of the candidate physically going into floodwaters in blue jeans, making it only the latest instance of highly politicized AI slop ahead of the presidential elections next month.
Slop Flood
As of publishing this article, the image has garnered over ten thousand likes on Facebook.
"I don't think FB wants this picture on FB," the poster wrote in a caption, implying the social media giant may have been removing the post for political reasons. "They have been deleting it."
Despite alleged censorship, the image was shared roughly 160,000 times in just two days, according to a fact check from USA Today. (The photo is still live on Facebook, though has been flagged with an "altered photo" warning and a link to an independent, third-party fact check.)
The image quickly spread to other corners of social media, where users captioned the synthetic image with notes about how "they don't want you to see this side of Trump" and messages to leaders to "not tell me how much you care about Americans... show me though [sic] your actions."
The fake image of Trump is one of many AI-generated fake photos to circulate in the wake of the deadly storm, which wrought extensive damage throughout parts of Appalachia.
Further and Further Apart
Other AI-generated images of alleged hurricane devastation have depicted scenes like flooded homes, abandoned, sad-looking dogs on roofs, and men in knee-high water barbequing.
Most notably, a widely-shared AI image showing a crying young girl clutching a puppy while evacuating in a canoe has made its rounds on X-formerly-Twitter, where it's been repeatedly shared by right-wing influencers and close Trump allies.
As far as the health of our information world goes, the apparent believability of these images is troubling. The fact that so many netizens are taking clearly AI-generated images at face value is a damning indictment of the extent of media illiteracy plaguing the US today.
More on AI and misinformation: Facebook Is Being Flooded With Gross AI-Generated Images of Hurricane Helene Devastation
Right-Wingers Heartbroken by Picture of Little Girl Who Doesn’t Exist
There has been no shortage of gut-wrenching photographs from communities in the southeast devastated by Hurricane Helene, which caused extreme flooding and killed at least 215 people — pictures of houses destroyed, families trapped on rooftops, wreckage from mudslides and roads washed out by torrential rains. But rather than focus on the actual victims or damage, many right-wing influencers and politicians have extended their sympathies to a nonexistent girl and her puppy (who is also not real).
The AI-generated image they’re sharing depicts a crying girl in a boat, seemingly alone except for the little dog she’s clutching. She wears a lifejacket and appears to be adrift on floodwaters caused by a major storm. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah posted the picture on X on Thursday, writing “Caption this photo,” apparently inviting his followers to vent their outrage at the Biden-Harris administration for allowing American children to suffer such misery on their watch. After users pointed out that he’d fallen for AI slop, he deleted the picture. (The image originated on the Trump web forum Patriots.win, where several users immediately recognized it as the product of an AI model.)
Others, however, have left the misleading picture up on their social media accounts — and some are defending it as an accurate representation of Helene’s effects even though it’s fake. Far-right conspiracy theorist and Donald Trump associate Laura Loomer called the image “sad,” quote-tweeting a post from Buzz Patterson, columnist for the conservative blog RedState, who wrote of the picture: “Our government has failed us again.” Neither have taken their posts down as of press time. Amy Kremer, RNC National Committeewoman for the Georgia GOP and co-founder of Women for Trump, tweeted on Thursday that the image had been “seared into my mind.”
Informed that she was not looking at an authentic photo, Kremer doubled down. “Y’all, I don’t know where this photo came from and honestly, it doesn’t matter,” she replied. “There are people going through much worse than what is shown in this pic. So I’m leaving it because it is emblematic of the trauma and pain people are living through right now.” A large anonymous blue-check account on X that routinely attacks Democrats did remove the picture but similarly argued: “Even though that image was AI, it spoke a truth about the disregard Harris and Biden have for ordinary Americans, as evidenced by their criminal non-response to Helene.” Another X user posted a screenshot of a more succinct response from an apparent family member advised that the image was bogus. “Who cares,” they answered.
— Mr. Honeydew (@bestbuddy1998) October 3, 2024
The little girl and her puppy — there are AI-generated variants of the more viral image floating around as well — have been widely presented by MAGA world as evidence of a failed disaster response in the aftermath of Helene. Trump himself is pushing lies about the U.S. government not being able to fund relief efforts, adding an overtone of racism with the groundless claim that the White House “stole” money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and “spent it all on illegal migrants.” (The irony being that in 2019, the Trump administration itself redirected millions in disaster funds, during hurricane season, to pay for detention centers at the border.)
FEMA has said in a statement that it does have enough money for “immediate response and recovery needs.” Yet the supposed scandal has Republicans outraged at the idea that Americans impacted by the hurricane are being denied help because Democrats funneled resources to immigrants. “So Kamala doesn’t have enough money for this child?” fumed a MAGA-affiliated X user who shared the AI-generated girl. “For Americans that lost everything they have? I can’t hate this administration enough.”
The barrage of AI junk from Trump supporters follows a similar trend last month, when the former president, his running mate Sen. J.D. Vance, and their various allies were smearing the Haitian immigrant community of Springfield, Ohio, by falsely accusing them of stealing and eating local house pets. During that news cycle, many used AI to generate cartoonish images of cats and dogs wearing MAGA hats, and Trump himself holding or protecting animals. Before that, Trump shared AI imagery that made it appear as if he had the backing of Taylor Swift and her fan army. (Swift endorsed Vice President Harris immediately after Harris’ September debate with Trump.) Along with the phony “victim” images to come out of the Helene disaster, there were also AI pictures of Trump braving floodwaters to assist residents and rescue babies.
What other uncanny-valley creations will online Trump boosters bring to the fore of the American imagination in the closing weeks of this chaotic campaign? Hard to say, but one thing is certain: the AI assault remains a core piece of their strategy.
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