Former President Donald Trump has alleged that Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign doctored a photo of a recent rally crowd, calling it "AI'd." However, evidence suggests the photo is authentic.
According to the Daily Mail, Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Sunday to accuse Harris of cheating and inflating her crowd size at a Detroit Metro Airport rally.
The photo shows a large crowd gathered in front of Air Force Two during a Harris-Walz rally on Wednesday. Trump and some right-wing commentators have pointed to alleged inconsistencies in the image, such as a lack of reflection on the plane's turbine, as evidence of digital manipulation. However, video footage from the event and fact-checking efforts indicate that the crowd size depicted in the photo is accurate.
Trump's post on Truth Social claimed:
Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she 'AI'd' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!"
The former president further alleged that this type of manipulation is "the way Democrats win Elections" and called for Harris to be disqualified, claiming that "the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE." Trump's comments reflect a broader trend of questioning the authenticity of political imagery and crowd sizes.
Other Republican figures, such as commentator Dinesh D'Souza, have echoed Trump's sentiments, urging followers to scrutinize details like reflections in the plane's paint job.
Despite the claims made by Trump and his supporters, several fact-checking efforts have found no evidence of photo manipulation. Spectrum News reported that the crowd "did in fact exist" and that the rally was attended by thousands of people, with many attendees posting their own pictures and videos of the event.
According to the fact-checking website Snopes, an AI detector determined the image was "96 percent human," indicating it was likely a genuine photograph rather than an AI-generated image. Snopes suggested that while some digital adjustments to lighting or shadows may have been made, the photo as a whole was not fabricated.
Andrew Harnick, a photographer for Getty Images, asserted the authenticity of his photo, emphasizing that it accurately depicted the large crowd present. He explained that the images he captured, available on the Getty website, were taken with a zoom lens.
This type of lens might make objects seem closer together than they are, but he clarified that the plane was actually quite far from the crowd. Harnick stressed that as photographers, they remain neutral and simply document the events as they see them.
The Harris campaign has responded to Trump's accusations, stating on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that the photo depicts an actual crowd of 15,000 people at the Harris-Walz event in Michigan. They also took a jab at Trump, questioning his campaign activity in swing states.
This incident occurs amid shifting poll numbers that show Harris gaining ground on Trump in key battleground states. A New York Times and Siena College poll indicates Harris leading by four points among likely voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Additionally, a Financial Times/University of Michigan Ross School of Business poll suggests that more Americans trust Harris than Trump on economic issues, with Harris seeing a significant jump in approval ratings compared to President Biden's previous numbers.
In conclusion, Trump's claims about the Harris rally photo being manipulated have been met with evidence to the contrary. Fact-checkers, the photographer, and video footage support the authenticity of the crowd size depicted. This dispute occurs as Harris gains momentum in polls, particularly on economic issues. The incident underscores the heightened tensions and scrutiny surrounding campaign imagery and crowd sizes in the lead-up to the election.
