Sitting in a black rescue raft, President Donald Trump reaches out to a Hurricane Florence victim clinging to a fence in heavy floodwaters.
Wearing a suit and no life jacket, the President hands the stranded man a red ‘Make America Great Again’ hat.
But there’s one big problem.
The photo is a fake.
The “heroic” photo has been shared in recent days in the wake of Hurricane Florence, which thrashed North and South Carolina over a week ago.
But while many Trump fans believed it really was a photo of President Trump’s inspiring rescue efforts, New York Times reporter Kevin Roose has pointed out that the original photo was actually taken back in 2015 in Texas.
As Roose pointed out, the original photo clearly shows ‘Austin Fire Department’ written on the side of the boat as three rescuers work to save a stranded man.
At the time the photo was taken, Trump wasn’t present – and he wasn’t president either.
And if you’re still not convinced that the photo is a fake, there’s even video footage from the Austin Fire Department of the dramatic moment that was captured in the 2015 photograph.
Yep, definitely no sign of Trump here.
Despite the fact the photo is clearly a Photoshop job with no link to the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, over 275,000 Trump fans have shared the photo on Facebook.
“You won’t see this on the news… make it go viral,” the photo was captioned.
Earlier this week, the US President was mocked for saying the devastating Hurricane Florence was “one of the wettest the US has ever seen from the standpoint of water”.
“The people of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia – all of the areas affected – you’ve been incredible,” he said in a statement shared to Twitter.
“There’s been a loss of life and may God be with them and their families.”
At this point, at least 43 deaths have been attributed to Hurricane Florence.
Watch: Just some of the great anti-Trump protest signs from his 2018 UK tour.
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Top Comments
It's a joke. It was always intended as a joke. If you can't see this, that smell that's been bothering you the last few days is where your sense of humor crawled off in a corner to die.
PMSL Oh the supporters say it is a joke - now. Now that it has been exposed as a fake. We see the trying to save face there. Just don't even bother.
Not only is it not real, what it depicts is not President Trump rescuing someone, but Mr. Trump handing a MAGA hat to someone who has more pressing needs.