On social media, former President Donald Trump expressed outrage on Friday, alleging that certain media entities manipulated artificial intelligence to fabricate a photograph depicting him with an exaggerated physique on the golf course.
Trump, 77, vehemently criticized the act on Truth Social, denouncing the creators of the image as “despicable people,” yet remarked on the public’s awareness of their character.
The contentious image said to capture Trump amid a golf swing, showcasing a prominently enlarged abdomen against his shirt, was later revealed not to be the product of artificial intelligence manipulation.
Investigations by Snopes, a fact-checking platform, traced the image back to 2017, identifying it as an authentic picture of John Daly, a known supporter of Trump and a professional golfer who clinched victories in the 1991 PGA Championship and the 1995 Open Championship, with Trump’s face edited onto Daly’s body.
To counter the portrayal, Trump, who declared a weight of 215 pounds following his Fulton County surrender last August, shared genuine photographs of himself golfing on Truth Social that same Friday, intending to highlight the disparity.
Lamenting the prevalence of misinformation, Trump condemned the pervasive distribution of “Fake News” within the country.
The dissemination of the altered Trump-Daly photo by media outlets remains uncertain.
Requests for comments from the Trump campaign by The Post went unanswered.
This incident surfaced shortly after a New York judge’s ruling that mandated Trump to pay $355 million and temporarily prohibited him from conducting business in New York, following findings that he significantly overstated his net worth to obtain loans and agreements from financial institutions and insurers.
