Viral AI Images of Donald Trump Dressed As Soldier Sparks Backlash: ‘Insulting’

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

A series of doctored images of Donald Trump dressed as a U.S. soldier, Navy SEAL, and Revolutionary Minuteman has sparked backlash on social media, with some claiming the images are “insulting to those that actually serve.”

Brigitte Gabriel, founder of right-wing ACT For America, posted the series of AI-generated images along with provocative statements like, “This is what a president looks like,” “President Trump is defending America in ways Biden will never comprehend,” and “President Trump is a modern day founding father.”

The doctored images have received tens of thousands of likes, and have drawn the derision of conservatives and liberals alike.

One conservative who has #AmericaFirst and #BuildTheWall on their profile tweeted, “Your AI #fakephoto is VERY insulting to those that actually serve in military!”

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (D-IL) — a former Air Force pilot who serves as a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard — tweeted, “Stolen valor.”

Another person posted, “As a veteran this is an insult to all of us who served!”

Many people made cracks about Trump’s “bone spur” issue that led to a military exemption during the Vietnam War.

For its part, Twitter flagged each picture along with the disclaimer:

This is AI-generated picture of Donald Trump.

Donald Trump has never served in the military. He avoided the Vietnam War draft through a podiatry claim.

The disclaimer includes a link to the New York Times article, “Did a Queens Podiatrist Help Donald Trump Avoid Vietnam?”

Trump has his own $99 line of digital trading cards that picture him as a superhero, Wild West sheriff, king, soldier, and astronaut, among other looks.

Indeed, Trump seems to enjoy equating himself to a real-life superhero. New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni reported on his obsession with Superman.

In several phone calls last weekend from the presidential suite at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Mr. Trump shared an idea he was considering: When he left the hospital, he wanted to appear frail at first when people saw him, according to people with knowledge of the conversations. But underneath his button-down dress shirt, he would wear a Superman T-shirt, which he would reveal as a symbol of strength when he ripped open the top layer. He ultimately did not go ahead with the stunt.

In 2018, Twitter erupted over a painting of Trump holding a lantern and lighting the way while Crossing the Swamp by American painter Jon McNaughton. It’s based on Washington Crossing the Delaware by George Caleb Bingham.

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