Images of anti-Trump posters in NYC recirculate after Biden 'garbage' comments

"This is New York City. Someone installed these posters. Disgusting," says an October 30, 2024 X post from Ian Miles Cheong, a far-right blogger whom AFP has repeatedly fact-checked for spreading disinformation.

The post includes two photos of advertisements supposedly posted on trash cans in New York City. 

The images show two people wearing "Make America Great Again" hats -- one carrying a Christian Bible, the other holding a cup from Chick-fil-A and sporting a tattoo of the Confederate flag. The ads also include the message: "Keep NYC Trash Free" and the New York City Department of Sanitation logo.

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Screenshot from X taken October 21, 2024

The post accumulated thousands of interactions. The same image has circulated elsewhere on X, Instagram, Threads and 4chan -- including in Japanese.

The posts came after Biden described Trump supporters as "garbage" while addressing a row about a comedian referring to the US territory of Puerto Rico as an "island of garbage" at a campaign event for the former president at New York's Madison Square Garden.

However, the posters were placed years before the 2024 election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

A reverse image search revealed the advertisements appeared on New York City trash cans on the Lower East Side in October 2018, days before the US midterm elections.

Vincent Gragnani, press secretary for the New York Department of Sanitation, said in an October 30, 2024 email that the images "were not created or issued" by the agency and had been "unlawfully" placed on city trash cans in 2018. The department posted the same statement on X (archived here). 

Artist Winston Tseng took credit for the posters in an October 2018 interview with the website Brooklyn Street Art, although he had previously tried to deny his involvement to local media.

"It's always just a personal expression," Tseng said in the 2018 interview. "I'm not one to think that I'm going to change anyone's mind by doing this. There's a bit of humor in it and I'm hoping that people are entertained by it."

New York City law prohibits individuals from hanging posters and signs on public garbage cans and other public property without permission from a government agency (archived here). The New York City Conflicts of Interest Board also bars public servants from using government resources and time to engage in political activities (archived here).

AFP has debunked other claims about the 2024 US presidential election here.