0 like 0 dislike
in General Factchecking by Newbie (250 points)
Social media users are sharing the old photo as new, with some falsely presenting it as evidence that Trump was not injured by the gunfire.

1 Answer

0 like 0 dislike
by Newbie (300 points)

This article has two main claims: 1) social media users are spreading a photo to prove Trump was not injured from the gunfire at his July 13th rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and 2) This photo was taken almost 2 years ago.

For the first claim, the author includes the text of an X post of the photo that reads “The top part of his ear grew back”. I found this X post posted by user @guelphgirlchris on July 15th at 4:23 pm and it currently has 3.5 million views and 6.4 thousand reposts.

The author also includes the text of another X post of the picture that says "This image of Trump was taken today. There is absolutely nothing wrong with his ear, and it has zero damage, FROM A BULLET. Everything about Trump is a con or a grift". I found this X post posted by user @lisa_liberal on July 15th at 5:07 pm, and it currently has over 2.4 million views, and 6.7 thousand reposts.

For the second claim--that photo used is from almost two years ago--the author includes a link to the original Reuters copy of the photo uploaded on September 18th, 2022. The author also includes links to two separate news articles that include this photo from around the time the photo was taken, the first article being "JD Vance playing defense in unexpectedly close Ohio Senate race" by The Guardian dated September 25th, 2022, and the second being "Candidates take stage as November nears: Here are 4 debates this week to watch" by USA Today dated October 10th, 2022.

As this photo was taken nearly two years before the Butler rally, it cannot prove Trump's ear was uninjured by the gunfire, which makes the central claim of the article (that social media users are falsely presenting an old photo as proof Trump was uninjured by the gunfire) true.

True

Community Rules


Be respectful.

There is bound to be disagreement on a site about misinformation. Assume best intentions on everyone's part.

If you are new to factchecking, take some time to learn about it. "How to Factcheck" has some resources for getting started. Even if you disagree with these materials, they'll help you understand the language of this community better.

News Detective is for uncovering misinformation and rumors. This is not a general interest question-answer site for things someone could Google.

Posting

The title is the "main claim" that you're trying to factcheck.

Example:
Factcheck This: Birds don't exist

If possible, LINK TO to the place you saw the claim.

Answering

LINK TO YOUR EVIDENCE or otherwise explain the source ("I called this person, I found it in this book, etc.")

But don't just drop a link. Give an explanation, copy and paste the relevant information, etc.

News Detective is not responsible for anything anyone posts on the platform.
...