July 25, 2019

Anna Murray 

US President Donald Trump took the stage to address at a conference of young conservatives, Turning Point USA's Teen Student Action Summit in Washington, DC on July 23. After a 12-minute video of his journey to the White House was projected on a large screen, President Trump then addressed the young group and was well received with loud applause from the crowd. But later the Washington Post found that he took the stage next to an altered version of the US presidential seal which was projected on the screen during his speech.

The eagle that appeared on screen was not the one picked by the Founding Fathers, instead, a two-headed eagle in resemblance to the one featured on the flags of Russia, Serbia, Albania and Montenegro which seemed to imply President Trump's close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two-headed eagle was holding a set of golf clubs in its left talon, not the 13 arrows with reference to the 13 original states, implying President Trump's love of golf. Instead of holding the olive branch in its right talon, the two-headed eagle clung on to American dollar bills.

The legitimate presidential seal features the US motto: "E PLURIBUS UNUM" in Latin meaning "out of many, one". But the quote was swapped: "45 es un títere" in Spanish meaning "45 is a puppet" which likely mocked President Trump, the 45th US president, to a puppet.

A representative for Turning Point USA denied any harmful intent and told the Washington Post that the event was a mistake, the result of a last-minute mistake by an audio/video person in his online search. The doctored version of US presidential seal projected behind President Trump seemed to poke a humiliating joke at him. Both the White House and Turning Point USA had no knowledge of its cause, but a member of Turning Point USA had been fired, reported by ABC News.

Photo:Webshot.