President Donald Trump posted a photo of himself an Chinese leader Xi Jingping that raised eyebrows for who else did and did not appear in the background.
The 80-year-old president met his 73-year-old counterpart Wednesday at Joint Base Andrews for his first White House visit in more than a decade, and Trump posted Thursday morning about that greeting on the tarmac.
“I met President Xi at the plane (Airport!) yesterday and he looks strong, vibrant, and fit – Better than ever. Madam Xi, of course, BEAUTIFUL!” Trump wrote.
In a separate post, he showed a photo of himself and Xi with Air Force One in background with the words “Only Trump” printed above, but critics noted that Trump’s personal aide Natalie Harp – who reportedly assists in his social media activity – appeared in the background but first lady Melania Trump, who also attended, did not.
Some observers pointed out that the original photo, shot by Reuters, showed protocol chief Monica Crowley standing in the background, but the version posted on Truth Social appeared to show Harp’s face superimposed over hers.
“Trump posted this photo on Truth Social this morning. Look close!” urged journalist Aaron Rupar. “There is a lot of AI slop going on in this photo. More than I noticed when I posted it.”
“Where’s Melania????” asked widely followed X user ColiPod LLC.
“Wait, Natalie is using AI to literally replace the nominal First Lady with herself in photos with the President and he then posts them?” pointed out blogger Bo Gardiner. “A movie could not have used this plot point because no one would have found it plausible.”
“What is this?” wondered data engineer Tom Wellborn, zooming in on AI-generated service members shown in the image.
“Why only 1 glove? And what’s up with the Hitlerfont?!?” gasped Bluesky user Olaf Pijl, echoing a question posed by many social media users. “Whoever thought that Dr. Strangelove and Idiocracy were documentaries of the future?!?”
“Is it the fact he has 3 arms? (One at his left side, one saluting, and one on his right with his hand in his pocket),” puzzled KC Davard.
“That’s Melania’s arm. She’s behind him, and Xi’s wife is behind her husband. The wives are visible in other pictures,” corrected Bluesky user kjowowow. “Turns out that it’s also very manipulated. He’s wearing 2 gloves in the video, and he’s the same height as Xi in it as well. And the military figures at attention behind him are distorted in the still. So Natalie just failed to hide Melania’s arm.”
“Imagine posting a photo of yourself with a visiting dignitary and including your fluffer and not your wife,” sighed journalist Helen Kennedy.
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