The US election campaign enters its hottest phase in the weeks leading up to Election Day on November 5. Amid this tense situation, parts of the US were hit by devastating hurricanes. Both Democratic and Republican supporters tried to take advantage of this, with the latter increasingly using false information. An AI-generated image of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently attracted widespread attention.
Rating: The image was created using generative AI. Trump actually traveled to Georgia and spoke to those affected and helpers there. However, he did not wade through water. Additionally, the image itself has some inconsistencies.
Review: Within a few weeks, two hurricanes caused severe destruction and more than a hundred deaths in the southeastern United States. Hurricanes Helene and Milton were among the worst in American history. Experts attribute their wind speeds of more than 220 kilometers per hour and the associated heavy rainfall to the man-made climate crisis.
In this context, a few days after ‘Helene’, a photo appeared online showing Donald Trump wearing a life jacket next to a suspected helper. Both are wading through dirty water that is more than knee high, and cars can be seen in the background. It is unclear where and when the photo should have been taken. However, his message is clear: even in the most difficult hours, Donald Trump is there for those affected.
Trump and Harris traveled to crisis areas
Both Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris and her opponent Trump traveled to areas particularly affected by the natural disaster following Hurricane Helene. They were followed from all sides by the media. Harris left for Augusta, Georgia, around October 2 (8) and met helpers in Charlotte, North Carolina, three days later (9).
Two days after Harris, Trump also traveled to Augusta and was photographed several times with those affected and first responders (10). Already on September 30 (11), the ex-president had a view of the particularly hard-hit city of Valdosta in southern Georgia, where he also spoke with media representatives (12) and those affected.
Valdosta was hit hard by Hurricane Helene, with wind peaks of over 100 miles per hour causing the most damage (13). However, the agency’s images from the city do not show any flooding (14). Nevertheless, the photo with Trump is said to have been taken there, as can be read in the comments below the original upload of the photo. Trump had not visited other places hit by hurricanes during the current election campaign until October 1, when the photo was published.
Image made clear with AI
The creation can be turned into AI-generated with little effort. On the one hand, there are numerous visual inconsistencies that point to this: an overall soft focus, for example, but also uneven blurring effects on the car in the background. Trump’s right hand also appears deformed and his thumb is bent. The inscriptions on the cap and life jackets are not legible.
The image also raises logical questions: Trump is seen wearing jeans in the AI-generated image – completely uncharacteristic of him and the situation. It’s also surprising why there should only be one photo of the situation. If Trump had actually made such an appearance, it would have been shown by numerous media outlets in addition to his own production, probably including moving images from different angles.
Role of AI in the US presidential election campaign
Content created by generative AI has been increasingly found in the US election campaign so far. The Trump image alone at the flood caused internet users to react with anger and US President Joe Biden, for example, showed cats rescued from the floods in an AI-generated photo with mouth and nose protection and another Trump with sharks or on a mobile phone tower.
Conversely, one consequence of the AI hype is that the authenticity of real photos is increasingly questioned (18). Harris’ campaign team allegedly passed off an allegedly AI-generated image of a performance at Detroit’s airport as a real photo. However, a digital forensic report commissioned by APA-Faktencheck concluded that there were “no signs of post-processing that changed the image”.
‘Classic’ false claims dominate
To boost the mood against their political opponent, the Trump team appears to have settled for ‘classic’ false claims. Whether it’s the most well-known disinformation about Haitians allegedly eating pets, or conspiracy stories surrounding hurricanes controlled by Democrats – they’ve all been debunked multiple times.
But the false information was not without consequences: a man armed with several weapons was recently arrested for allegedly threatening employees of the American disaster protection organization FEMA. A few days earlier, several Democratic representatives in the House of Representatives called on the companies behind the social media platforms Facebook, Instagram,
But there is also resistance within Trump’s party. Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards of North Carolina recently listed eight false information and claims about Hurricane Helene in a press release (25), which received worldwide media attention.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
