Manipulated image of Hitler used to push Trump shooting conspiracy
- Published on August 7, 2024 at 17:29
- Updated on September 3, 2024 at 16:56
- 5 min read
- By Daniel GALGANO, AFP USA
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"I thought that pic looked familiar. Trump posed it like his idol Adolf Hitler," says one post on X.
The post includes two images, one from the attempted assassination of Trump with the ex-president raising his fist in the air, two Secret Service agents flanking him and an American flag in the background. The second shot shows Hitler in a similar pose with two people on either side of him and the flag of the Third Reich behind him.
The same image has circulated elsewhere on X, Threads, Instagram, Reddit and Rumble -- including in Portuguese, amid a torrent of misinformation and conspiracy theories about the attack.
The posts also build on a narrative from Trump critics painting him as a would-be dictator with an affinity for authoritarian leaders.
But claims the assassination attempt was staged are baseless. Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire on Trump during an event in the US state of Pennsylvania. One spectator was killed, and two others were critically wounded before a Secret Service sniper team shot and killed the would-be assassin.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House Judiciary Committee during a July 24 hearing that investigators "do not yet have a clear picture" of Crooks's motive. However, they have determined he acted alone.
The picture of Trump is genuine -- captured by Evan Vucci of the Associated Press (archived here) -- but the shot which appears to show Hitler in the same pose has been fabricated.
Some versions of the image featuring the German leader contain the name of the X account Paulley Ticks, who frequently posts pictures of Trump alongside fascist symbols and figures.
The account no longer has a post containing the alleged photo of Hitler, but several of the posts re-sharing the image credit him.
A combined reverse image and keyword search on the figures in the photograph revealed the photo of Hitler is from a shot taken around 1930 by photographer Roger Viollet. The photo also appears to have been edited to angle Hitler's arm above his head, with the top part of his fist cut off (archived here).
Another reverse image search also revealed the man positioned behind Hitler is Joseph Goebbels, taken from a World War II-era photo of the Nazi propaganda minister held by the Universal Images Group (archived here).
Matthew Stamm, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (archived here), and Tai Nguyen, one of his students, analyzed the picture for evidence of manipulation, and Stamm said it was "clearly fake."
A person could use generative AI to synthesize Goebbels's face "or to synthesize him and then splice that in," Stamm said in an August 6 interview with AFP. "Probably more likely, they just grabbed an existing photo -- since there's lots of photos of these famous historical figures -- copied it and pasted it in using a tool like Photoshop."
Stamm used an analysis tool to highlight the area of the picture that was most likely manipulated -- the two figures beside Hitler and the flag in the background. AFP confirmed his analysis using InVID-WeVerify, a verification toolkit AFP helped to develop.
Samer Al-khateeb, an associate professor of computer science, design and journalism at Creighton University in Omaha Nebraska (archived here), identified the woman ducking in front of Hitler as the German leader's long-term mistress and eventual wife Eva Braun.
After removing the background, a reverse image search revealed the photo of Braun came from an Associated Press shot of her taken at Hitler's retreat in the Bavarian town of Berchtedgaden (archived here).
Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation about the attempted assassination of Trump here.
This article was updated to show the origin of the photo of Eva Braun that was added to the manipulated image of Adolf Hitler.September 3, 2024 This article was updated to show the origin of the photo of Eva Braun that was added to the manipulated image of Adolf Hitler.
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